The Negatives
by LizzyVanilla
Summary: Marinette paced the floor of her living room. Five minutes had never felt this long. (Aged-up!) (Post-reveal, angst, fluff) (WIP)
1. chapter 1

Marinette paced her own living room, checking the clock every so many seconds, her heels clattering on the floorboards.

Five minutes have never felt so long for her, it wrecked her nerves, as she wrung her hands together, they were just as sweaty as they had been on her wedding day, as she walked down the aisle, said her vows as she-

No, don't think about it, her _husband_ would be home late, so at least she didn't have to worry about that.

Marinette was just about to walk a hole in the floor when the door of the apartment opened, she was in the middle of setting a new step and let her foot fall to the ground.

"Marinette, are you okay?" She recognized the familiar voice of Adrien, and she whipped around to look at him.

She released a breath she didn't know she was holding and forced a smile on her face. "Y- yeah, I am." Her voice quivered. "What are you doing here?"

Adrien closed the doors behind him, "Well I know it's your free afternoon, so I thought we could go and get a drink at a café together." He replied and walked towards her, using one finger to lift her chin, making her look up into his eyes. "You look pale and stressed out, are you really okay?"

Marinette's heart skipped a beat, after all these years he still was able to read her like an open book.

She took a step back and wiped her hands on her skirt, starting to fiddle with it's edge. "I- uh, I don't know, actually." She took a glance at the clock, the five minutes finally having passed.

His gaze also went to the clock, before going back to her, but she didn't dare to look back at him. "What's wrong?" He gave her a concerned look, the same one he had given her many, many times before, either as Chat or as Adrien.

"I-... I dont't want to talk about it, maybe later." She danced around his question, walking to the sink to use one of her previously used glasses and getting some water.

Only to let the glass slip from her grasp, a horrified gasp coming out of her, as she staggered backwards, almost collapsing.

Adrien was just in time, he caught her and looked at what she was staring at, panicked, and he saw something white laying on the counter, it took him a moment to identify the white object but when he did, he also let out a gasp of surprise.

Because on the counter there laid a _pregnance test._

Two purple lines in the little windows.

He felt Marinette shake in his arms as she turned around to embrace him, a sob forcing it's way out of her throat.

He didn't know why, but he did now she was not happy.

"Hey, shh," The blonde tried to comfort, but the woman in his arms still sobbed into his chest. "Aren't you happy? You're going to be a mother." He tried to cheer her up, but he only felt her shaking and crying becoming worse.

She took a step back, looking into his eyes, with her own full of tears.

"N- no," she hiccuped. "A child deserves more than- than _this._ " She gestured around her, making him look around, there barely was anything in the room, because they were going to move.

Adrien sighed softly, concerned. "I thought you said you wanted to move?"

She shook her head slightly. " _We_ 're not moving, _I_ 'm just moving out." She confessed.

Adrien looked at her, shocked. "What?" He voiced his thought, what did she mean by that? Weren't they-

"Nathanael and I signed the divorce papers." She cut through his thoughts. "I'm not Mrs. Kurtzberg anymore."

Adrien had felt great regret when Nathanael had asked out Marinette, and he realized that moment he should have made a move, because from what Alya told him one night as they were hanging out together, both slightly tipsy from the alcohol, Marinette had liked him, a lot.

But it had just been his luck, he was too late, he had missed his train to happiness.

Especially when he just found out a little after that his Princess was actually also his Lady.

"What?!" He repeated, more shocked than before. "But I though you guys were-"

"We aren't." She cut in.

"Why?" He breathed, as he went to sit down on the couch, Marinette not far behind, sitting next to him.

"We've been..." She seemed to be at search for words. "... _talking,_ about it for a while and we've decided this would be for the best, but now..." she bit her lip, not sure what to say.

Adrien was almost completely sure that talking meant something different, there had been more than one occasion in which he had walked in on the couple, and they weren't talking. They were... _arguing._ Everyting just kind of fell into place that second.

"And now you're pregnant with his child." He finished for her.

She nodded her head, hot tears ready to spill from her eyes, down her pale cheeks.

"It's going to be okay. Name one time were the lucky duo didn't succeed." He challenged her, but she snapped at his words, her emotions taking its toll on her.

"It isn't going to be okay, I don't for my child to grow up with divorced parents, and heck, I don't even know how to tell the man I've been living with for 6 years that he's going to be a dad!" She cried, her voice thick with tears.

He pulled the bluenette into an embrace, feeling her for the second time staring to shake and cry against his chest.

"Shh, shh," he tried again. "You can't force something like that, _Princess_ , you can't pretend to be happy for your little child, they should have two happy homes, rather than a house filled with fake cheer."

Adrien recalled all the times Nathanael had glanced at him for using that nickname, a nickname as old as their secret identities, but now he could finally just talk to her the way it used to be.

Marinette stiffened a little in his arms, indicating she heard him.

"B- but-"

"No buts, Marinette." He said as he placed a tender kiss on the top of her head. "It'll all be okay, because you have me, and your parents, and Alya and Nino, and we all don't want to see you hurt. We all want you to be happy."

Marinette smiled up at him tearfully, glint of hope shining in her eyes. "Y-You're right, I think it's time to tell them..."

MLB

Please, Please, Please, leave reviews and feedbacks, I love to hear what everyone think and if there are things I should try to improve a lil'.

Also I tried to build the tension and mystery up, like my acting teacher says we shoukd when we're improvisingnand making our own small plays.

This story is also heavily based off of lots of different things, fanfictions, real life scene's, a song ;).

Random question of this day is;

Which ship do you guys think absolutely doesn't work? And why?


	2. Chapter 2

**This is for the people that are still here! I've gotten amazing feedback and like most of my stories, I just had a push of inspiration, especially since someone commented that they're curious about what Nate and Mari were fighting about.**

 **Enjoy!**

MLB

Marinette's chest felt tight as she and Adrien sat in the cab to her parents' bakery. One hand fiddled with her skirts edge while the other was held by Adrien, as he softly made circular motions with his thumb on her hand.

She bit the inside of her cheek, her eyes looking at the signs of shops and the houses as they drove, she was keeping her breathing in check as she was almost sure she would have a panick attack or a breakdown or even both if she didn't focus on something else than what was about to unfold.

MLB

The bluenette sat on the couch with her hands folded over her chest, her hands clenched and unclenched has her semi-long nail pressed into the palms of her hands painfully, but she couldn't bring herself to care.

Dinner had been long forgotten, as two plates full of cold, wasted food stood on the table, from one of the plates had been eaten a little, wheres she had tried to to eat, but she couldn't force anything through her throat.

All the lights were out and the sun had long since set, but she didn't bother, she felt a nauseating emptiness in her stomach, she was painfully aware that Nathanael wouldn't be home anytime soon.

She grabbed her phone with clammy hands and turned it on, looking at some messages that had come in, but none of her husband.

Marinette unlocked her phone and looked at her conversation with Nathanael.

 _'Won't be coming home, babe, problems at the gallery'._ The message read.

She let out an annoyed sigh as she slammed her phone back onto the couch, standing up and walking to the kitchen, grabbing a bottle of wine from the cabinet. She grabbed a glass and went to sit again, unscrewing the bottle and pouring herself a drink.

She twirled the glass in her finger before tugging a little of the wine down. She trew her head back and let it rest against the back of the couch, just as she was about to take another sip of her wine, the door of the apartment unlocked.

Marinette looked up, and took a sharp breath.

"Hey, honey." Nathanael said as he closed the door behind him and let his bag fall onto the floor. "Are you okay? You never drink one workdays." He added concerned.

"No, I'm not." Marinette said through gritted teeth, putting her wine glass down on the table, standing up, her eyes on him.

"Wha-?"

"Where have you been?" She asked, anger transparent through her voice.

Nathanael lifted his eyebrow in confusion. "At work, I just te-"

"At work my ass, Nathan!" She cut in, her finger poking in his chest, eyes on fire. "I have been waiting for you all night!" She pointed to the table where dinner stood. "For the past weeks, but you _never_ show up!"

"I told you I was busy-"

"At work." She scoffed. "What? Do you think I'm that dumb?!" Tears pooled her eyes, her hand clenched at her side. "At first I thought 'maybe he's plannning something special', and money started disappearing from _our_ bank account, but I guess you just don't even know when you married _the girl of your dreams_."

Marinette chuckled humorously, her voice and eyes think with tears. "Yesterday I waited for you, Nathanael, just like I did today! But you. Didn't. Show. Up."

Nathanael reached out to his wife, ready to apologize. "I'm so sorry, Ma-"

"I don't want to hear it, okay?!" Tears overflooded her eyes, streaking down her cheeks. "I just want you to be there, to be honest with me!"

Nathanaels eyes hardened. "What about _you_ , huh? What about _you_ and _Adrien_?"

"What..?" Marinette asked, dumbfounded, what did Adrien have to do with this.

"Whenever he's around you look at him longingly, Marinette, do you even know how it feels to see your _wife_ staring at her ex-lover like that?" He fired.

Marinette shook her head. "No, but I do know that that's not a reason to spend all _our_ money on who-knows-what!" She fired back, throwing up her hands. "Besides, he's been there more for me than you have these past weeks! Months, even!"

It happened so quickly she almost couldn't understand what happened, as her cheek started to fill with hot pain, the sound of slapping echoing through the air.

His eyes widened drastically and so did her as he started apologizing profusely.

Her hand went up to her cheek, as her lips and voice trembled. "You know what, your point came across, and I hope this makes mine come across, because I don't understand why I'm still with a man who I can't trust with my money and heart."

MLB

"Marinette, are you okay?"

She snapped out it and she noticed her own hand was on her cheek, as she relived the pain. She looked up to Adrien and shook her head. "I-I just wished things could have gone different..." she sighed.

He smiled reassuringly. "This might be for the best, Mari."

"Can you please stop that?" She asked, looking out infront of her.

"Stop what?" He replied, unsure.

"Stop caring about me like that!" She teared up.

Adrien tilted his head in confusion. "I'm your friend, Marinette, I won't stop caring about you, because that's what friends do."

"Stop caring like we're still madly inlove with eachother, we're not in lycée anymore, Adrien!"

"But I still love you, those feelings may not be returned, but I can't just turn it off!" He fired back.

Marinette was taken aback, her hand pulled out of his. "I've moved on, why can't you?!"

They both froze, looking each other into the eyes. "I-I'm sorry, Adrien, I shouldn't h-have yelled at you like that..." She looked at her hands that she was fiddling with, guiltily.

"No, you're right. You're going through a tough time right now, you need a friend, not a lover."

Marinette flung around him, embracing him in the moving cab. "Thanks..."

He stroked her hair as she sobbed into his chest, clinging onto him for dear life. "No problem, princess."

MLB

Marinette stepped back into their apartment the next day, divorce papers in hand, she was met with the sight of her sleeping husband on the couch, he had seemingly drunk the rest of her wine.

She sighed as she laid the divorce papers on the table, together with a note.

Her plans for that day were simple; try to find a new, affordable apartment close to work.

MLB

Marinette and Adrien stepped out of the cab after paying, as Marinette dried her eyes, not ready to actually face her parents, but she knew she had to eventually, rather sooner that later.

Adrien held her hand an reassured her. "These are your parents, Mari, they'll understand."

She nodded and took a deep breath, before they both walked in, her mother behind the counter, still cleaning up, but her eyes went up as she heard the two come in.

"Marinette, Adrien! You're here." She greeted kindly, she started to look older as time passed by, but her eyes would always stay the same, friendly eyes Adrien remembered.

"Hi, Maman." Marinette smiled, but it must have either been really unconvincing or Sabine must have a mother sense, because she came from behind the counter, worried look in her eyes.

"Are you okay, Cherié?" She asked her daughter. "What happened, what did you want to talk about?"

"Can we maybe go upstairs, maman?"

MLB

Marinette vomited a couple of mornings later, she had started to become scared, her period was late and her mind was running through all kind of possibilities.

Nathanael, even though they had both signed the papers, sat beside her on his knees, rubbing her back soothingly and holding back her hair.

Marinette had found a new priority, besides moving her stuff.

Getting the test.

MLB

"Oh sweetie," Sabine said, rubbing her daughters leg comfortingly. "Please know that we'll always be here for you."

"And if you ever need anything or want to know something," Tom added. "You know where we live." He winked, lifting the mood.

Any of Marinette's lingering doubts dissolved since the first time her ex-husband hadn't shown up all those years ago.

She finally knew she was ready to face that men that hadn't been there for her all these week, to tell him the new.

MLB

squeals* I made the 2K words mark! That's a first!

Sooo, I've been writing for about 3 hours, and this is what came out, I might write more, but no promises, considering this was origanally an one-shot.

Anythoughts about this? Please tell me!

Question for this chapter;

Did Marinette really move on? ;)


	3. Chapter 3

"You guys what?!" Alya cried.

"We've got divorced..." Marinette said again, more careful this time, shrinking back a little under her best friends gazes.

"But I thought you guys we're fine?"

Marinette sighed and twiddled her thumbs. "We really weren't, we haven't been for a while." She confessed truthfully.

Alya, who sat next to her, wrapped an arm around her best friend. "How come?"

Marinette had winced a little, she knew the question wasn't inevitable, someone was going to ask, someone was going to get answers, and it didn't surprise her that Alya was that person. "We were arguing about... money."

Alya squinted her eyes, and Nino wanted to say something, (probably that she shouldn't pry and it wasn't her business,) but his wife beat him to it. "That isn't the whole story, is it, M?" She tried.

The bluenette took a deep breath as Adrien laid a hand on her shoulder. "You don't have to tell us, y'know."

"Yeah, I do know," she smiled at him a little. "But I'll feel bad if I bottle these feelings up." She turned to her other two friends.

Nino looked at her smiling reassuringly. "Are you really sure?"

Marinette nodded. "For the past months Nathanael has been coming home late, sometimes he doesn't even- he didn't come home..." she took a deep breath, as she felt hot tears glossing over her eyes. "And then he started using _our_ money to do who-knows-what..."

Her best friend took her hand and Marinette smiled as Alya squeezed it tightly.

She took a shuddering breath, before continuing. "Barely two weeks ago, after our 5 year anniversary I was done with it. I told-" more like yelled. "-to him about how I felt. That's when he started turning things around..." Marinette let out a bitter laugh. "But he made a valid point, he was right about it, or at least how right he could be."

She shut her eyes closed, tears trickled down her pale cheeks. She subconsciously flinched and her hand came to rest on her cheeks.

When she opened her eyes again, she was met with a wide-eyed Alya. "Did- did he... hit you?"

Nino and Adriens eyes also when wide open when Marinette nodded her head a little, confirming Alya's theory.

Alya and Nino had gotten together somewhere in lycée, when was still a question, because sometimes they were all lovey-dovey and other moments they were joking around like siblings.

They had finally made it completely official in their last year, before graduating. They made plans to move in together and both went to different colleges in town, Alya to a journalism school and Nino to do a music course.

After their first semester Nino had asked the question, and they had gotten happily married, it was a small get together, with someone close friends and family.

"Why didn't you tell us?" Alya asked, as she rubbed her best friend's leg soothingly.

"It was only one time." She quickly reassured. "I told he made his point clear and-"

"What was his point anyway?" Adrien cut in, and he saw Marinette pretty much shrink under his gaze. "Please?" He tried.

She fiddles with her earring-less earlobe. "Wait was it abo-?"

"He didn't know, Adrien." She butted in.

"He didn't know what?" Nino asked curiously. Scooting a little closer to the edge of the lounge chair he was sitting on.

At moments like these Marinette wished she had told her friends, at least, after Hawkmoth was defeated. Because they had always been there for her, they had tried to talk with her after she gave back her Miraculous to Master Fu, to know why she was so depressed.

And when she talked to Adrien about it when they didn't know, it felt like some sort of inside joke, that only the two of them knew.

"I used to be Ladybug." She blurted out. Wait, How had they gotten from hello to divorce to heroes, again?

Alya and Nino's eyes grew wide, again, as they gaped at her like to fish out of the water.

"But that's not what we were here to talk about!" She quickly said, trying to get back on track, because if the conversation kept taking these turns she would have gone into labor before telling them.

"Then what was his point?" Adrien asked again, helping her.

Marinette bit the inside of her cheek. _Shit._ This she hadn't thought about yet. "I- uhm..." she bit the indide of her cheek a little harder this time, feeling the metallic tasting blood in her mouth. "That's not important." She lied, because it was actually really important.

Alya sighed, still not quite over the shock from her other announcement. "That's all right." She said.

"But what I really wanted to tell you guys is..." she took some deep breaths, calming her nerves. Adrien squeezed her shoulder, encouraging her to continue.

"I'm pregnant."

For the 4th time that afternoon Alya and Nino's eyes widened, almost jumping right out of their sockets.

"Surprise?" Marinette said, doing a nervous jazz-hands.

"When did you find out?" Nino asked, still shell-shocked.

"Just today."

"Is it his?" Alya asked, reffering to Nathan.

Marinette nodded.

"Congratulations!" Nino said, as he noticed that Marinette wasn't upset, but more happy.

Alya pulled her best friend into her arms. "I'm so happy for you." She said. "You're going to be a great mom, Mari." She reassured.

Marinette smiled into her friends shoulder. "Thanks."

MLB

I'm going to leave it as it is, I won't promise a new update, but I guess people are kind of curious to find out how Madi and Nathans conversation will go.

As for all the reviews, thank so much! I love the paragraphs of analyzation for my stories, your theories also give me lot of inspiration and courage to write more!

As for this chapters question;

What is you guys favourite Coffee? (If you don't like coffe, than thee, or other drink!) Mine is definitely Caramel Ice Coffee's.


	4. Chapter 4

THANKS SO FREAKING MUCH FOR ALL THE REPLIES! Sorry for the caps, XD, I'm just so psyched from all the analysis, but sadly FF takes a while to show the reviews. I only today could read the comments from the 22th. But I'm very grateful nonetheless! Please keep replying, it makes my day!

Enjoy this all over the place chapter! :)

This chapter may also be acting a little weird after half of it, someone know how to fix this?

MLB

Marinette had decided to tell Nathanael the next day, his free day, to discuss some matter with him, but when Marinette entered the house, her ex-husband sat on the couch.

He looked up to see her entering, she closed the door behind her, quietly.

"Hey." She spoke, cautiously moving to sit next to him on the couch.

"Hey." He repeated after her, as he glanced at her face, taking in her features, and she could see him struggling wether or not to say something.

They had bought the appartment after dating for about 2 years, finishing lycée, both ready to go to college. They had wandered all over the Parisian streets, going from place to place, looking for a place to call their own.

They had both given up on finding something nice and affordable, but it wasn't so easy. Nathanael had dragged her to one of the last places they wanted to visit, both discouraged, worn down, but in that moment they were glad they had kept on looking.

She took matters into her own hand as she said: "There's something I need to talk to you about." One hand fiddled with her earringless earlobe.

"I know..." he softly said, as he fixed his eyes on something on the little coffee table, her eyes followed his and she quickly looked at him again.

"Oh..." She breathed, her eyes once again flickered to the pregnancy test one the small table. "Surprise?" She quietly asked.

He drew her into a hestant embrace. "I'm sorry, Mari, that I haven't been here for you." He buried his nose a little into her hair, her typical strawberry scent hitting him.

Their first date hadn't been anything particularly special, they had agreed upon a small picnic at the park resting next to the national monument, the Eiffel Tower.

Marinette had brought a blanket to sit on and he had made the sandwiches and had took some freshly cut summer fruits with him.

The summer breeze had softly went past them as they ate, talked, laughed and joked, in that moment, he knew that he had wanted a life with her, he wanted to hold her, be there for her.

But he had failed, he had failed so hard, tearing them apart.

Marinette took a breath. "It's okay." She wrapped her arms around his torso, reciprocating his gesture. "We'll find a way around this whole divorce thing." She said.

She felt him nod into her hair a little, as they stayed like that for a couple of minutes.

He was the first to pull away. "Yeah, we will..." His voice sounded regretful and the bluenette realized just how hard the situation was to him, but she didn't know what to do about it.

"I'm sorry too," she replied. "I shouldn't have reacted the way I did, but I do think that this is for the best." She wore a small, sad smile. Her hand rested on her tummy, as she looked into his eyes.

"I hope that we, at least, can stay friends." She added after a small silence.

He smiled and took her hand. "Me too."

The door of their apartment opened, as the blond stuck his head in. "Hey, I uhm, I'm not interrupting anything am I?" He asked a little bit nervous.

"A little." Marinette replied, and next to her Nathan's shoulders slumped. She stood up, walking to him. "Why are you here?"

"I- uh," He took a phone out of his pocket. "You forgot your cell in the cab on the way back." He said awkwardly.

She took it and smiled gratefully. " _Merci beaucoup_ , Adrien."

"Uh, no problem, I'll see you around, Mari." He waved a little and left again, leaving Marinette and Nathanael behind.

"Is it really mine?"

"What?" Marinette asked as she turned around, slamming the door behind her.

"Is the child really mine?" He asked through gritted teeth, his fist clenching as he stood up.

She took a step backwards, taken aback by his question. "Where's this coming from?" She demanded. She took a step forward, squaring her shoulders.

He came closer. "Be honest with me," He held her by the shoulders. "Is this child mine?"

Marinette looked away, anger coursing through her vains. "You can't even tell me what you did with our money, so why do you want _me_ to tell _you_ everything." She said.

He forced her to look up, both staring at eachother with angered eyes, but there was something painful in his eyes, making her grind her teeth. " _Marinette!"_ He hissed at her.

She took a step away from him, arm crossed protectively over her upper body. "Yes, sadly it's yours." She spat, almost instantly regretting what she said, but she couldn't find it in her to apologize. "I don't even know how you could think I would do something like that!"

His hand went up and she flinched, her own hand going up to protect herself.

After a few agonizing seconds, she dared to open her eyes, hand slowly going down, as she saw his hand was frozen mid-air. She felt her eyes burning with tears as she opened the door behind her, turning to leave.

"Please, Marinette, I-I'm so sorry..." She heard him say, but she didn't care. She slammed the door shut and left.

She heard the door opening after her, as she heard Nathan calling after her, but she kept her pace up. She wanted to leave. She _needed_ to _leave_.

Just like that Tuesday evening 2 weeks ago, she soed her way through the apartment, taking her phone, that Adrien had just returned, but it burned in her hand, as she stopped for a moment.

Had Nathanael really misread and distrusted the relationship between her and Adrien this badly?

She scrolled through her contact list, now that she had told her friends and parents what happened, she was safe to go to them, to bawl her eyes out at their houses, but something held her back.

Her eyes landed on the picture of her co-worker and friend, she hesitated for a moment, but clicked on calling, as she brought her phone to her ear.

The phone ringed 4 times, before she heard Natasha's familiar voice sound through the phone. " _Hey, Mari. What's up?_ " She asked.

"C-can I maybe stay the night at y-yours?" She replied, her hand wiping her own tears furiously.

Natasha, who heard the distress in her friends voice, replied with an instant: " _Of course_."

"T-thanks." Marinette said quietly, her feet started walking automatically. "I'll be there soon."

MLBMLB

All right, I don't think I have anymore to say, but for this chapter I actualky have two questions;

-Where are y'all from? I'm from the netherlands, any other dutchies here? XD

-What would be shocking for Nathan to use the money on? I already have it planned out, but I was curious if someone had something shocking, I also can tell you that no one has guessed the original reason yet. XD


	5. chapter 5

Het gaat goed! Bedankt voor her vragen, en met jou? - to the one guest learning dutch.

MLB

This wasn't the first time Marinette had stayed at her co-worker, Natasha, her apartement, she had gone there two weeks ago, after the argument with Nathanael, and she had always been welcome whenever she felt alone.

The brunette had a great understanding of which lines and barriers not to cross or stretch, she never asked too much questions, but had a vague understanding of Marinette's divorce and the fights with Nathan.

For Marinette it was nice to know that Natasha never asked more than needed, she was like a sister to her, someone that cheered her up, taking her mind off of the pain of things.

She pressed the button of Natasha's house number, and she was granted entrance within mere seconds. Making her way into the building, she walked up the stairs, walking through the hallway, her brunette friend was already waiting for her at the door.

There were no hello's or how are you doing's, but instead she was met with a tight hug, as they wrapped their arms around eachother, Marinette hid her face in Natasha's shoulders, sobs wrecking her body.

Natasha rubbed her back soothingly as she weeped.

They stayed like that for a couple of minutes, as Marinette's sobs subdued, she slowly let go of her friend. "Thanks." She quietly said, her voice raw, but full of emotions.

"Anytime." She replied, ushering Marinette inside, closing the door behind them.

Marinette sat down on the couch, wiping her nose on her shirt, and just then she noticed how cold she was. She hadn't bothered to put on jacket when she had fled, into Januari's unforgiving weather.

Natasha, who noticed her slight shiver, quickly took the colourful, knitted blanket from beside the cough where she had stored it. She unfolded it and put it around her friend, smiling sympatically, her brows furrowed in concern.

Marinette smiled appriciatively at the brunette.

"Would you like some tea?" She asked, already halfway into the kitchen, knowing Natasha, it didn't matter if she said yes, she would make tea anyway and shove it down her throat with pure concern.

Marinette nodded, she looked around the colourful room that just screamed: 'Natasha!'

Her eyes wandered over the rolls of fabric that where stored at the most random places you could think of, under her desk, on her desk, in closets, and even under the couch she was sitting on.

The fabrics and sewing stuff weren't the only things scattered everywhere, because it didn't matter where she looked, there would always be a picture frame in your field of vision.

Right infront of her, on the wall opposite to her, hang a handful of photo's. Natasha with her friends, boyfriend, family, her. The brunette loved pictures and took one every place she went.

The girl of topic came back from the kitchen, skilfully holding to glass cups and teapot, undoubtedly filled with cinnamon tea, her favourite.

Natasha put the pot and glasses down, filling the cups just under their brim.

"Do you want to talk about it?"

And just like that, Marinette was hit with the ugly truth, she felt her eyes starting to burn again. Her hands grew clammy fast and she pulled the blanket more snuggly around herself.

The pain had been gone for that moment, an effect Natasha's love had on her, and probably everyone in her wake.

Then she couldn't breathe anymore. Her longs didn't't work as tears started descending down her cheeks. She wanted the pain to stop. She wanted to just be someone else for a moment. She wanted anything but this.

" -inette! breathe!" She faintly registered Natasha's words. And she tried.

The moment the air finally came into her lungs, she felt it's pace pick up, only giving her moments to inhale and exhale.

She could feel Natasha wrapping one arm around her, and she felt dizzy, sick, numb.

Her co-worker rubbed her arm, trying to snap her out of it.

It took Natasha a minute before she could calm her down, murmuring reassuring words and trying to give her instructions on how to breath.

Marinette didn't register most of it as she felt Natasha wrap her up in her arms again, sobs wrecking her body as she cried into her shoulder.

She had allowed herself to think that everything would be alright after Adrien's peptalk, but would things really be?

She was alone.

She was moving.

She was broken.

She was _pregnant._

Could she really handle this all by herself. She wanted to believe she could, but the words felt like suger coated lies.

But after the some many-th fight with Nathanael, she couldn't pretend anymore.

She didn't want to.

She was vaguely aware of Natasha stroking through her shoulder-long, jet black locks.

And how could she face Adrien now?

Usually the thought of him would bring a fond smile to her lips, but now it just brought pain.

She felt as if the moment she would see him, she'd break. He was her best friend, but in that moment she wished he didn't exist, just for a while...

MLB

Natasha had sighed, it hurt seeing her friend like this and not being able to do anything.

The brunette laid Marinette down on the couch, frown marking her face.

She carefully tugged of Marinette's shoes, as not to wake her up.

She stood up and softly took the blanket from her, readjusting and laying it over her again. Repositioning her head on the the pillow and pressing a kiss on her forehead.

She sat down on the living room chair, she grabbed one of the cups of tea and brought it to her lips, the lukewarm drink dancing on her tongue.

Natasha didn't dare leave her friend all alone, even when she was asleep.

She held her tea in one hand, as she took her phone out of her pocket with the other. She scrolled through many of her contacts, in search for one in particular.

Once found, she starter typing a text. There was no way she was going to let Marinette, as miserable as this to work tomorrow.

MLB

Marinette had carefully avoided both Nathanael and Adrien the next 3 days, but she was stuck when she checked the boxes with her stuff, realizing she didn't have her passport, yet.

She was just about to move her stuff, she had gotten her keys just the day before, and the apartment was ready to be moved into.

She searched trough the drawers and all possible places in the apartement in hope to find it, but only to conclude that it was unfindable. She huffed as she checked the boxes and drawers again, still not finding the passport anywhere.

Marinette took her phone from her pocket, scrolling through her contacts, biting her lip a little, hestitating to click on the call button.

Her finger hit call and it took two rings before she heard Nathan's voice through the little device. "Hello?"

"Uhm- hey, Nate, do you know where my passport is?" She asked, fiddling with the hem of her t-shirt.

They exchanged someone words and Marinette was back on her feet within a minute, making her way to the kitchen. She opened the fridge, that was filled with half empty bottles of all kind of alcoholic drinks. She grimaced.

There where to reasons to feel bad for her.

Because it felt like she had done this to Nathan, but mostly because she wanted to grab a bottle and just chug it down, to feel numb and feelingless for a while.

But she couldn't. She couldn't bring herself to do it. To do this to her child.

The bluenette took a breath before looking up, there was a small space just above the fridge, that was shielded by the fridge door when closed, she would have overlooked this tiny space on an everyday basis. Her hand reached up, she felt the cover of a passport, as she pulled it out, checking the inside, to be met with her ex-husbands face.

She sighed and put it away, standing on her toes, feeling the side of another one, but she couldn't pull it towards her to take it out.

Marinette put an out of place strand of hair behind her ear, before walking to the kitchen table to take a chair, putting it infront of the opened fridge. _Aha!_ She said in her mind as she stood on the chair, taking out her passport, but she also pulled out a lot of papers, as they fell onto the ground.

She closed to fridge -no reason to keep it open, - and brought the chair back to the table, before returning to the kitchen, picking up to papers, only to freeze as her heart sank down to her feet, as her breath caught in her in throat.

She stared down at the familiar logo's on the bills and papers, her stomach churning uncomfortably, and she suddenly felt very sick.


	6. chapter 6

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

I ended and started 2017 and 2018 with FF, that feels pretty darn great.

Enjoy and please review!

MLB

The papers and bills fell from her hands as she let them go, feeling as if the paper burned her skin.

She scrambled backwards, her back hitting the chair behind her.

"No. No. _No._ " She mumbled, a nauseating anger bubbling up in her throat. Her hands found themselves covering her mouth.

She couldn't. She didn't want to believe it.

Tears sprung to her eyes and in that moment, she felt out of her body.

Her feet and hands pushed her up, she held herself upright by the chair, she couldn't control and as she took those four steps to the fridge, as she opened it, as she took a bottle, opening it, as she brought it to her lips.

But the moment the taste of the scotch it her tongue, she regained control of her actions.

She wouldn't lower herself to his level. She couldn't. She wouldn't.

She gulped as anger coursed through her vains.

She smashed the bottle to the ground.

And another one.

And another.

And another.

Tears rolled down her cheeks. Her hands balled into fists when she couldn't find another bottle.

She felt helpless. She felt lied to. She felt the pain he brought her over the past months. The pain of him not coming home. The pain from the rejection from her own husband.

And she wanted it to stop.

She wanted for someone - _anyone_ \- to walk through the apartment door. To take her mind of of everything.

And she waited and waited. She slid down in the corned of the kitchen, not caring of the cold ground or the glass shards that laid around her.

The intoxicating smell of the alcohol hit her nose, and she had to use all of her willpower not to give in.

She pulled her knees up and cried.

They had depths. He had depths. hundreds and even thousands of Euro's they were in the red.

And she wished he had told her. That he'd been honest with her. Maybe they could've talked it out.

She stayed there hugging her knees for a while, until she felt the last sobs whacking her body.

It took her a moment to calm down, her head was pounding and the smell around her wasn't helping.

She stood up, her hand holding onto the fridge that she had left open after her little... revelation. her body was shaking and she just wanted to be anything but here.

She didn't even know if she was ready to live all on her own.

In that moment she wished she just be back in lycée, before this whole mess started, she wanted to be able to just sit with her parent and be wrapped up in their embrace.

she wanted to be able to laugh at anything, to not have a care in the world.

She wanted to jump of rooftops. Swing through Paris. Joke around with her kitt-

Another stab if pain went through her. She wanted it to stop. She wanted to disappear from the face of the Earth. If only for a second.

Her eyes went to the clock, noticing the time, it wouldn't be long before Nino was there to help her move.

She didn't know if she wanted Nino to see her breakdown or not.

On the one hand he would comfort her, stay by her side and just overall be a great help.

But on the other hand, she didn't want for anyone to see what big of a burdens she had.

But when Nino came, she realized, the smell of alcohol would still scent the air, so cleaned up or not, the smell would definitely linger.

She made her way through the glass shards, fortunately she hadn't't taken of her flats when she came in.

Her steps shook and luckily her feet brought her where she needed them to go.

She opened on of the boxes that was labelled "Cleaning Stuff" in her own not-so-neat handwriting.

She rummaged through the box before finding the hand vacuum.

She made her way back to the kitchen and began vacuuming the tiled floor, not even caring if the machine was waterproof.

She sat on her knees as she slowly made her way through the kitchen, only stopping to pick up the particularly big ones.

she finally reached the end, the floor was still wet from the drinks, which would make the floor sticky if she didn't wash the floor soon.

She threw away the biggest shards and stood up, putting the vacuum on the counter.

She made some warm cleaning water in the sink, as she turned around to see the rest of the damage.

Only for her eyes to land on the papers that caused this mess.

Why the hell had Nathanael thought those papers were safe there?

Okay, it's not like she would've looked in that tiny space above the fridge if it weren't for her passport, but _still._

She walked to the papers and crouched next to them, picking them up.

The familiar logo was pretty just staring at her, laughing, but the rest of the logo's... She didn't recognize some of them.

Marinette took the half drenched papers and looked through them, there were some bills from expensive hotels, some high-end bar, but her heart just felt most heaviest because of the little _Casino_ logo on most of the papers.

hundreds of Euro's that Nathanael had spend on _gambling._

She clenched her teeth and the urge to break things returned.

Her eyes scanned over the papers and bills. one stuck out, it was a note with a phone number on it.

Marinette felt her face blanch, she read the little text that was written above it.

 _"I absolutely loved last night, give me a call sometime"._

There was a little heart after the message and she wanted to sink into the ground.

She bit her lip in anger, she would not let her own feelings get out of hand, again.

She laid the papers, bills and notes on the counter and hopefully Nathan would find them and realizes how bad he screwed up.

Her heart was aching as she grabbed a towel and started cleaning up the rest, her head was running a thousand miles a hour.

She didn't notice the door open and close, but she did notice how suddenly there were two strong arms wrapping her up in a hug.

Marinette looked up and saw Nino's concerned eyes.

"Are you okay, 'Nettie?" He asked her, worry lacing his words.

Only then she acknowledged the tears that were going down her cheeks, how warm her cheeks felt and how dizzy she was.

She shook her head, she didn't want to lie, this was Nino, her eldest friend, one if her best friends, too.

They both sat on their knees on the ground, Nino had his arms around her as she wept slightly.

She tried taking her mind off things, to focus on how nice and warm Nino felt and how he smelled like, well, Nino, but she couldn't her mind continuously kept circling back to Nathanael.

How could he act as if _he_ was the victim, accusing her of an affair with her closest friend, while he had slept with some whore?!

her breathing quickened, as Nino soothingly rubbed her back.

She took a fistful of his shirt and cried, sobbed.

It wasn't fair. Why could he sleep with anyone and if she slept with someone -which she didn't even do! - it would be the worst thing ever.

She had always been faithful, she had waited and waited, making her feel as if she was the bad guy, pretending to be the victim.

He made her feel this awful and she didn't want to mourn over him, but she spend so much time with him, talking, laughing, crying, _loving_ him.

She had been there for him when he lost his first art job, when his mom passed away, when he felt as useless as she felt right now.

But he threw it all away. Not caring if she was the one hurting.

She barely registered as Nino picked her up bridal style, taking her out of the apartement.

"W-what are you d-doing?" She asked quietly.

She felt him struggle closing the door and locking it, before he began walking from the apartment.

"Taking you to our home, moving can wait."

She buried her face into his shoulder, her arms wrapped around his neck.

It felt like only a couple of second before they sat in Nino and Alya's car, driving to their home.

Marinette sat in the passengers seat, knees pulled up to her chest, her head resting on her knees.

The smell of alcoholic beverages was still as present, and the bluenette felt slightly bad for making the car scent like it.

Music was playing in the background, just a little louder than the sound of cars in the busy streets of Paris.

"Do want to talk about?" Her friend carefully asked.

She shrugged, she didn't know.

Nino laid a hand on her shoulder, letting her know it was okay.

She lifted her head from her knees and smiled weakly up to Nino. "Nathan accused me of cheating," She confessed quietly and she saw Nino's eyes going wide. "But he was the one sleeping with some other woman."

Nino's driving slowed a little, but he quickly picked up it's pace again.

"He doesn't deserve you." He replied honestly. "And he doesn't deserve to play the victim." She saw his hands tightening around the steering wheel.

Marinette looked out the window, hearing Nino say her thoughts up just made it all the more real.

"And he's been gambling." She added, her voice breaking, her lip quivered.

"He _what_?!" Nino asked, dumbfounded.

Marinette let out a humourless laugh. "He's been gambling with our money."

"As soon as we're home I'm going to wrap you up in a big hug, okay?" Nino said, his hand on her leg.

Marinette smiled up at him. "I'd like that."

MLB

So that's it for this chapter, please leave reviews and stuff, it makes my day!

and a happy new year, I wish you all the best of luck!

Question;

\- What you guys do in Mari's position?


	7. chapter 7

Funny thing about last chapter: I almost forgot to add the thing Nathan had been hiding. I realized I had left you guys in the blue only after writing most of the chapter.

Also the flow befween some lines last chapter - I cant be the only one noticing that, right? - weren't so great XD but it's okay.

Enjoy!

MLB

((quick **WARNING**! This chapter contains (mentions of) **rape** and **sexual** **harassment**.))

And wrap her up in a big hug Nino did indeed.

The second Nino's warmth engulfed her, dams broke lose again.

She became a sobbing mess, something she had been a lot the past weeks, and weeped.

God, what must people think of her right now?

Her crying stopped for a moment, there were people with worse than her, she didn't have the right to cry like a little child.

But she did anyway.

Nino whispered small reassuring words into her ear, as he rubbed her back in a circling motion, his warm breath tickling her skin.

How could Nino be so sure that things would turn out all right, her life and sanity were literally bursting at the seams, ready to fall apart.

"P-please don't t-ell Adrien..." She felt herself mumble, her voice fragile and dry.

"I won't tell anyone unless you want me too, Dudette, but why, if I may ask, not my bro in particular?"

"Because Nathan- he-..." She was at a loss of words. Why didn't she want Adrien to know? Because Nathanael was right? No, that couldn't be. Because Adrien freak out if he heard that someone would think he would sleep with a married woman?

Nino looked at her with sympathetic eyes. "Let's get you inside and cleaned up first, than you can tell me if you want too." He offered.

Marinette nodded her head and let Nino lead them into the house, she wiped her nose onto her shirt, which still held the disgusting smell of nauseating alcoholic drinks.

Nino and Alya owned a small house without a yard, not to close to the heart of Paris and tourism.

The house wasn't by any means luxury and neither were the two full-time working lovers home that much, so it didn't matter.

The house had everything they needed, nothing too much, but nothing less.

He led her upstairs and brought her two the closet he and Alya shared, he opened it and took out someone of his wife's lounge clothes and handed them to her.

"Change up, I'll make something to drink downstairs, Dudette." without awaiting another word from her, he left her standing in their bedroom.

The bluenette sighed and began stripping down, leaving only her undergarments on.

Her hand went to her belly, it was only a little bloated and there weren't any physical signs screaming: _'Pregnant!'_

It all felt so surreal, the pregnancy, knowing there was life growing inside her, and it scared her.

The concept of a child inside of a woman always freaked her out, she had learned all about it in school, but it still felt vague.

Her mind drifted back to _that_ night, Nathan had just come home, drunk and horny, after a Christmas dinner party with colleagues.

She hadn't wanted it, but it was clear that he hadn't have any plans to stop, his drunken mind so set on sleeping with her.

And she regretted it. In _the_ moment, and the moment, four days ago, when she found out she was pregnant, and right at this moment as she was holding a hand on her tummy.

Nathan didn't have the right to take advantage of her like that, not after all he had done.

But the damage was done.

And he had left her completely miserable.

She could still feel his grip on her wrist as he held her, firm and hurtful.

His alcoholic breath and lips against hers.

How he forcefully undressed her. How he pressed her up against the wall. The bed.

She had tried to make him stop.

She flinched again.

She took a breath, hot sensation returning to her cheek, she couldn't lie to herself anymore, she pretended the first time he hit her was while arguing, but it wasn't.

She had pretended that she hadn't seen that night flash in her mind again that moment.

But she couldn't pretend nothing happened, he had used her like a whore, some little play thing, he had forgotten about it the next morning, and she kept those ugly feeling inside her.

She had pushed it to the sidelines for five weeks, acting like it didn't still hurt her.

But it did.

She had never felt more useless in her life, never felt as miserable.

The little scratch was actually a very bug cut, and it had left a scar, a scar completely open to see for the world.

A scar in the form of a child.

He had kissed her down her neck, a trail of sloppy, wet kisses that were mixes between licking and biting.

He had groped and touched her in ways he _knew_ she didn't want him to touch her.

He had crossed more barriers than she wanted him to that night.

After that she couldn't sleep. She had stayed up all night, numb, empty, powerless.

She couldn't even wish this upon her worst enemy.

She felt herself choke on a sob and she came back into the room she had been in.

Her mind was still racing as her hands gripped the bed railing to steady herself.

She took deep breaths, trying to calm herself, to make the pain go away.

Instead she tried to focus on the task at hand, slightly dizzy she reached for her best friends sweat pants, and slowly put them on, first right, than left.

She pulled on the slightly too big pants and tied the cord into a little bow, securing it snuggly around her waist.

Next she grabbed the sweatshirt Nino had left and pulled it over her head, just that moment she came to realize how cold she had been, standing there in just her underwear and bra.

Lastly she grabbed the socks from the bed, sitting down to put them on.

She took a breath and stood up again, she already felt a little better, the familiar aroma of her best friend filled her nose and she smiled a little.

She discarded her own clothes on the bed, before leaving the bedroom, her feet almost automatically brought her to the bathroom.

She opened the door and went in, she went to stand infront of the grand mirror only to be met with two exhausted and bloodshot eyes.

She scanned her own face, pale, lifeless skin, cheeks were sunken in from her lack of appetite, chapped and bitten lips.

Marinette looked and felt utterly sick, as she reached for the faucet, putting it on.

Her hand she held cupped and water slowly gathered in them, she splashed face with the cold water, cooling herself down.

She rinsed her face with the tap water thrice, before shutting it off, her hand reaching for one of the already used towels that hang on the heater.

she dabbed her face in it and within a mere minute, she was downstairs.

The scent of hot chocolate filled the air around her as she walked into the living room.

Nino looked up at her from his soot on the couch and patted the spot next to him, gesturing for her to sit down, which she gratefully did.

"So why can't I tell Adrien in parriculair?" He carefully asked, not trying to go into her personal business too much.

"Because Nathan misread Adrien and I's relationship in... the wrong way." She told him, not meeting his eyes. "His distrust is a part if the reason I left him. And the fact that he's become an asshole." She muttered.

MLB

That was... Something. I didn't have that planned out how I would reveal it, but whenever I write I keep small things like this in mind so it isn't as much out of the blue.

And I can also already feel some Nate-hate coming from this chapter.

Don't get me wrong tho! I love tomato child! usually..

Question;

-Do you think she'll tell Nino everything? or at least half of it? If yes, what _will_ she reveal?

If someone touches you in a way you don't like, please tell them to stop.

No one can make you do things you don't want to with your body!

If someone were to take advantage of you, please tell someone or try reporting that person.

On the internet you can easily find hotlines with people to talk if you don't know how to talk about it, they'll guide you through it.

But please don't be as afraid of Marinette and stand up for yourself. It might be hard, especially if it's someone close to you, but please, please try.

And even as everything else fails or doesn't work, I'm always here to be contacted!


	8. chapter 8

To clear up some of the confusion, here are some nunbers and dates;

-Marinette has been pregnant for 5/6 weeks.

-The argument and the divorce thing happened 2/3 weeks prior.

-they had been married for the past 5 years. (small, but important detail.)

\- Marinette has know 4 days about the pregnancy.

I hope this clears of the lingering confusion! Enjoy and please review!

MLB

Marinette stared at her own reflection in the mirror, her hair curled in soft ringlets, a little bit of natural make-up on her face, and the beautiful white dress she wore.

She smiled at herself, all the nerves she had when he'd asked the question were suddenly gone.

The butterflies in her belly were fluttering, she couldn't believe it was almost so far.

She continued looking at herself, but a knock on the wall interrupted her, making her turn around to look at the intruder.

Her blue eyes met a pair of green eyes.

"Adrien!" She cried, delighted, as she stood up, grinning.

"Hey," He said, his eyes were kind but his voice betrayed him. "You look absolutely beautiful." He told her.

"Thanks," She said and twirled, showing off her wedding gown, one that had been made by herself.

He leaned against the door frame. "Are you sure you want to do this?" He asked, quietly.

"Adrien." She had said firmly, her eyes locking onto his, determination as present as ever in them.

The blond sighed. "You can still change your mind." He told her, his eyes begging for her give him a chance.

" _Adrien._ " She repeated through clenched teeth. "I can't just leave Nathan at the alter like that, besides, I love him, and I want to be with him."

"I'm just saying..." He trailed off, but he knew she wouldn't listen, when she had something in mind she would go for it, whatever it takes.

"It doesn't matter Adrien, I don't want you to try and convince me to change my mind, because I won't! This isn't some romantic _movie_ or _storybook_!" She hissed angrily.

He flinched, and Marinette felt guilty, even though she didn't want to, considering he was the one provoking it.

"You've been trying for the past years, when will you understand you and I _won't happen_?" She continued, her hands balling into fists at her sides.

Now he started to look slightly guilty, and she could sed him searching for words.

"I just wish you'd give me a chance." He said, his voice unsure, but firm.

Marinette felt herself heating up again. "You had a chance long ago!" She argued back, if he had really wanted to be with her he should've realized it sooner, now he had missed his chance, and it wasn't her or Nathans fault, it was entirely his.

"Look," She said, trying to brace herself for what she was about to say. "You either leave, won't be at the wedding, or you'll go sit down next to Nino and Alya, and you'll watch me walk down the aisle, looking beautiful, you'll watch me be happy with Nathanael, like my _best friend_. You'll congratulate me, and you'll go home, knowing I've moved on, and so should you."

Her eyes were full of tears and she could see his glazing over to. "You'll go and ask out that cute girl in your study group, you'll put yourself out there."

She took a couple of steps forward, and she could see him biting his lip slightly.

Her hands grazed his, holding them carefully. "But I don't want you to keep hurting yourself like this anymore, Adrien. I love you, but not like you love me."

He looked at her, his shoulder sagging. "I'm sorry." He sighed.

She nodded slightly, wiping at her eyes to make sure her tears wouldn't ruin her mascara, when a red blob sped to her from behind Adrien.

"You look absolutely stunning, Marinette!" Her kwami, Tikki praised, flying aeound Marinette to inspect her.

"Thanks, Tikk." She replied, smiling. Her gaze went back to Adrien as she let go of his hands.

"I-I'll leave you to it." He said, before spinning on his heel, leaving the heroine and her kwami alone.

"Are you okay?" Tikki asked as soon Adrien was out of earshot, concerned.

She bit the inside if her cheek, unsure, her eyes went down, locking onto her white dress. "Yes, I will be." She said, smiling softly.

Tikki looked at her questioningly but decided to let it slip, not daring to upset her charge right before she was going to get married.

"I think I just saw Alya waiting for you so you can get started." The little god informed.

Marinette took a look at the time, noting it was almost 11 o'clock, she checked herself again in the mirror, she smiled, before walking out of the dressing room.

"Let's go, Tikki." She smiled, walking that small distance through the church to where her best friend and father were waiting.

Alya her eyes lit up at seeing her best friend. "You're so pretty!" She gushed, walking up to meet her best friend halfway.

"Thanks, A." Marinette replied, grinning happily.

Her gaze went to meet her father, who looked absolutely stunned. She walked over to him, smiling.

He took her hand, smiling at her with tearfilled

eyes. "It seems like only yesterday I thought you how to make croissants, you've grown up so fast, my little princess."

"Pappa," The bluenette said, tears were also starting to gather in her eyes.

Alya smiled at them before walking to the double doors. "I'll tell them to start in a moment, come through whenever you're ready." She said, before slipping through the doors.

"Are you ready?" Tom asked, holding out his arm for her to take.

She nodded, determined, as she linked her arm through his. Thay faced the door and within a moment the Wedding Mayhem started as they walked down the aisle, towards the alter.

The eyes less than 15 people were all focused on her, as her eyes ran over all the people there, they had only invited close family and their closest friends.

Her eyes locked with green emerald ones, and her smile broadened, she turned to look at Nathanael, standing at the alter, her heart skipping a beat.

He looked back at her with a love-sick, dopey smile, and she wanted to be up there faster, the walk their seemed to take ages

Finally, when she did reach the alter, she turned to her father, who gave her a kiss on her heax, before joining his own wife, her mother.

She looked at Nathan, smiling, he smiled back at her.

"You're so beautiful." He fold her, and she saw the tears glimmering in his eyes.

She felt herself tear up too, and in that moment, she knew, she was going to be happy.

MLB

Goooooooooods. I was actually going to make this half of the chapter but I found this worthy of it's own chapter. I also love taking your speculations and just throwing up a middle finger to them to show I have other plans XD.

Question;

-What do you guys think went through Adrien's mind in this chapter?


	9. Joke Chapter

I'm currently working on chapter 9, but it's a lot harder to write than anticipated, especially for such a normal chapter..

The next chapter could take a little but uhm, I really felt like writing this, so here's some crack.

:) Enjoy!

MLB

"I love you, but not like you love me." Marinette ended, looking at Adrien.

Suddenly the sound if heavy, quick footsteps came from the hall, coming closer fastly and within no-time someone stood in the room with them.

But it wasn't just _someone_.

Marinette's eyes widened drastically and so did Adrien's.

Because in the doorway was _Adrien_ , his hands on his knees, panting.

"YOU HAVE TO GO WITH HIM!"

Marinette looked at the Adrien that had already been there and the other one that came rushing in.

"What the-?" She breathed, pretty sure she was getting delusional.

"Marinette- you- Nate- baby- divorce-!" _Adrien_ said, puffing, face slightly red from lack of oxygen.

Marinette and Adrien's gazes met, both thoroughly confused.

"Who... are you?" Adrien asked.

"I- you- from fu-ture!" He said, almost done catching his breath.

Marinette squinted her eyes and looked at him. "He does look a lot like you... But older." She muttered, astonished.

"Well- uhm- why are you here..?" Adrien asked, his face showing disbelief. Adrien reached out to touch- well, _Adrien._

"I came to tell you that you shouldn't get married." He said turning to Marinette, but he giggled girlishly as Adrien poked him in the side.

"What? But Nathan and I-"

"-Love eachother." He said, cutting her off, rolling his eyes. "Believe me, you'll regret it five years from now."

Just as he finished his sentence, an exhausted, older _Marinette_ came though the door, leaning in the doorway for support.

The first thing Marinette saw when she came over the shock of seeing a double if herself was her bloated belly.

"Adrien- I told you- This was a bad- idea." She huffed.

"I told you you shouldn't have come," He scolded her, poking her cheek.

"And -I told you you shouldn't have gone, like, at all." She retorded, she still held onto the wall.

"What the hell..." Was all that Marinette could bring out as she looked at their older selfs interact.

"Sorry for interrupting." _Marinette_ said.

"Sorry not sorry." _Adrien_ said after her. "I'm gonna stop this wedding even if it's the last thing I do."

"Adrien, _no._ "

"Adrien, _yes._ "

"... Ithink I'm going to pass out." Marinette mumbled as she leaned onto the wall.

Adrien went over to her, letting her use him as a supporter.

"Now!" _Adrien_ yelled before running over to them, picking up Marinette bridal style and running out of the dressing room before either Marinette, _Marinette_ or Adrien could stop them, fleeing out of the church.

MLB

This was short but I wanted to upload _something_ before today ends, and I figured that writing another thousand words before going to sleep wasn't going to work..

Question;

-Any baby name suggestions for the real story?


	10. Chapter 9

Anyone got name suggestions for the baby? I already know the gender (haha yes, I do) but I want to keep it a secret. I can't decide on a name, tho, so please leave some names and which you think would be names Marinette would choose.

(But please not Emma, Louis or Hugo, I already have a 'plan' for those names..)

anyways, Enjoy!

MLB

Marinette nibbled on her lower lip, her gaze downcast.

"Than that's Nate's fault, not Adrien's." Nino supplied. He put an arm around her in hope to soothe her, softly rubbing her upper arm.

"I- I know, but-" Marinette stopped for a second, why? Why couldn't Adrien know? " Let's just forger I said it..." She said carefully pulled out of Nino's grip, reaching out for her hot chocolate.

He smiled sympathetically at her. "Than do you want to talk about what happened before I'd gotten to the apartment?" He asked.

She seemed to hesitate, her eyes slightly crossed as she looked at her hot chocolate she was sipping slowly.

She sighed as she placed it on her lap, grip on the mug firm. "I was looking for my paspoort, b-but I found all these bills and papers..." She felt her voice falter, tears for the so many-th time gathering in her eyes.

"A- And it proved that he'd been using money on gambling and drinking and hotels and some-... some other woman!" Her grip on the mug tightened and her knuckles turned a little white.

He looked at her with concerned eyes. "The bastard." He muttered.

"God, I-I just feel s-o freaking d-dumb..." She sniffeled, there rapidly gathering in her eyes and falling down her pale cheeks.

"Hey," Nino said, getting a little closer to her, wrapping an arm around his friend. "You didn't know."

She looked away. "B-But I should have..." She mumbled.

"Stop blaming yourself, Mari." He told her, her was getting more concerned than he had been in forever.

"I should've asked where he was going, I should've told him I knew about the money. I-I should've told him to _stop._ " She continued, not caring if Nino was trying to shush her.

"Marinette, this isn't your fault, he shouldn't have done what he did to begin with." He tried again.

"But maybe it was my fault, I shoukd've been a better wife, I just wasn't-"

"Marinette, stop it!" Nino said, almost shouting. It was hurting him that his friend felt his way, he wanted her to stop, he _needed_ her to stop.

The bluenette stopped, she was breathing heavily, looking at him wide-eyed.

"I-"

"No, don't you _dare_ bring yourself down like this, Nettie, you're better than that."

"Apparently I wasn't, otherwise I would've still been married!" She slammed her cup of hot Chocolatemilk down on the table, trembling.

"I don't want this, Nino, I-I've never wanted _this._ " She gestured around with her hands, standing up and storming away to the stairs.

"Nettie, wait!" Nino said, following her up the stairs, following her to the only room that had a door that could be locked; The bathroom.

He heard her sobs, his heart wrenching painfully.

"Marinette, please..." He said. "Please let me help you." His hand was on the door knob, trying to open it, only to fail.

"I-I don't want this," She repeated quietly. "I d-don't want any of this."

"I know, Marinette, I know." He sighed, why did she always have to be so stubborn? "But the only thing you can do is try."

Her sobbing continued, filling the air with sadness. He stayed there for a couple more minutes, trying to talk to her, but he decided to leave her to herself for a little.

MLB

About a hour later, around dinner time, Alya had gone up, with some home cooked meal.

Her fisted hand touched the door, knocking. "Marinette?"

There was some shuffling sound from inside, but no answer.

"Sweetheart please," She tried. "You can't stay in there forever, that's unhealthy."

A muffled "I don't care" came from within the bathroom.

She sighed. "Than at least eat something, I'll leave some warm food out here." She said, frown curving her face.

She placed the plate and a glass of water next to the door before turning on her heel.

"And?" Her husband asked when she came into the living room.

She shaked her head. "I'm worried about her."

Nino met her halfway and wrapped her into his arms. "Me too," He pressed a kiss on top of hee head. "But all we can do right now is being supportive."

"If she would just talk to us, maybe we could try understanding it better." From the corner of her eye she saw Nino biting slightly on his lip, so she pushed him away. Looking at him questioningly.

"Ehh, I don't know if it's my place to tell, babe." He told her, his face full of seriousness.

She looked at him pleadingly, but it soon became clear, as his face stayed the same, that he wasn't going to tell him if he didn't have their best friend's consent.

He swiftly put a kiss on her lips, pulling her closer to him. They stayed like that, but parted as soon as they heard a door open, but it closed soon after.

They waited for a moment but there weren't any footsteps, they speculated Marinette had taken the food before hiding in their bathroom again.

"At least she's eating, then." Alya said quietly, before stepping from Nino's grip and letting herself fall down on the couch.

Nino smiled sympathetically and sat down next to her, putting a hand on her knee. "She'll get through this."

She smiled back at him a little sadly. "I hope so."

MLB

That was kinda hard to write, especially because of my '1K words' rule. But here it is, couple of days overdue, I hope next chapter can get here sooner.

Question;

\- Marinette will have to face Nathan someday, how will she and he both feel? How much do you all think Nathan knows about how much Mari knows?


	11. chapter 10

3 things I want to say;

Sorry for the long wait, I had been homestuck since Saturday with the flu and very bad headaches, but I hope I'll be ontop of it as soon as possible.

Also, I'm actually surprised this story is 9 chapters longer than it was supposed to be, so yeah, I can tell you that I'm proud of myself for coming this far and that I won't stop until I at least have some form of an ending.

I also asked my mom this week when a pregnant woman goes to get her first check-up and my mom looked at me and than her eyes went down to my belly.

I was just yelling to her for a moment considering I'm only fifteen, (and because I'm into girls, but she doesn't know that).

MLB

About another hour later both the night and Adrien came strolling in.

Both Nino and Alya looked up at him as he greeted them.

"Hey guys, is everything all right? You two seem... worried?" He asked, concern shone in his eyes as he looked at the couple.

"We don't think Marinette'll join us for this game night." Alya supplied.

Ah, game night, a tradition that started a little while after they all had to go their own places after lycée.

Alya had complained that they weren't together enough, so she had invited Marinette and Adrien over every Saturday night to catch up.

After a little while instead of talking, they started playing games, the group of four would joke around while playing one or another game.

He raises his eyebrow. "Did something happen?" He asked.

"She's locked in the bathroom, and _someone_ won't tell me what happened." Alya replied, crossing her arms, slightly mock glaring up at her husband.

"And _someone_ promised Marinette he wouldn't tell other people what happened." Nino fired back.

Alya opened her mouth to argue.

"Hey, guys." Marinette's voice rang from the stairs, cutting through their arguing.

"Mari!" The three friends chorused as they saw their friend holding her plate and glass of water, she didn't look much better than when Nino had seen her before, but at least she had eaten.

She smiled softly, as she walked over to the go to the kitchen, returning a little later without her plate.

"Are you all right?" Adrien asked from his place on the couch, raising his eyebrow in worry.

Marinette exhaled from her mouth as she sat down next to him, shaking her head. "Could've been better."

Before anyone else could ask a question she put up her finger to shush them. "Can we not talk about this right now?" She asked, putting a piece of shoulder-long hair behind her ear.

"So, you're Ladubug? I don't understand how I didn't see!" Alya cried, scanning her best friend from bottom to top.

Marinette chuckled, grinning a little. "That's the Miraculous' magic." She supplied.

A couple of days ago, when she had randomly told her friends her secret, they never continued their conversation, seeing they were so caught up in the fact that she had gotten divorced and was pregnant.

"So, do you know who Chat Noir is?" Her best friend asked, almost sitting on the edge of the couch in excitement.

The bluenette nodded, smiling. "Although I don't know if he'd want me to tell..." She replied, sneaking a glance at the blond sitting next to her.

"I'm sure he wouldn't mind." Adrien said, wiggling his eyebrows.

Marinette snorted as she lightly pushed him away. "And what do you know?"

He smirked as they bantared. "Juat as much as you, _M'lady_."

Marinette sighed as she pushed him face away. "I told you to stop calling me that."

"Oh my _god_." Alya said. "I can't believe it!" She exclaimed, taking Nino's arm and shaking the baffled boy.

"Woah, dude!" Nino said, giving his bro a soft punch on the shoulder.

"They've been right under our noses and we didn't even know!" His wife said. "God, I'm a terrible reporter." She said and groaned, crossing her arms over her chest.

"I told you, it's the magic from our miraculous'." Marinette said, smiling.

"But still!" Alya argued back, unable to accept her dumb theories from the years prior.

Marinette rolled her eyes as Adrien laughed. "The two of you haven't changed since lycée."

"Neither have you." The bluenette retorted, raising an eyebrow whilst grinning.

"That's because you love me like this." He replied, wiggling his blond eyebrows.

" _Adrien._ " She warned, her tone so serious it momentarily silenced the room.

Nino quickly stood up, remembering his conversation with Marinette from before, and said: "Who wants to play monopoly?"

"I'll help you get it." Marinette supplied, also getting up before hurrying after Nino upstairs to get the games.

This left only the redhead and the blond in the livingroom.

"Why didn't you and Marinette ever end up together?" Alya cut through the short lived silence.

She saw Adrien wince a little, as his hand went up to awkwardly rub his neck. "Because Nathanael beat me into asking her out." He said, shrugging.

She pursed her lips. "But she was still into you when Nate asked her out." She said pointedly.

Adrien sighed. "It is what it is."

"And that's it?" Alya asked, kind of angry. "What happened to that blond that didn't give up?"

"Being rejected over and over again for more than those 10 years does that to a person, Alya." He told her, scrunching up his nose.

"But the two of you were _perfect_ for eachother, still are." She said, not giving up.

He let out a humourless chuckle. "Apparently she doesn't think so."

His voice left a bitter sound in Alya's ears and she frowned at him. "Than she needs to open her damned eyes."

"I don't think she-" Adrien's voice was cut short as the girl in question and Nino came back, carrying an old, worn-down box of monopoly and some other games for afterwards.

"Lets play." Nino said.

MLB

So I hadn't had the Alya-Adrien part planned, but I think it added a little more layers to the story. Who do you think?

Question;

\- Why is Alya so set on making SS Adrienette sail?


	12. chapter 11

It feels like forever since last chapter... Kinda is.

I'm going to try and cover more ground in this chapter, as in, trying to go further into time.

Please bare with me, enjoy and please review!

MLB

Game night went without any more bad conversations, or other shenanigans, as usual the girl were competitive as ever before.

But that was last night, right now Nino and Marinette were parked right outside Marinette's apartment building.

"Are you sure you don't need my help?" She asked as she looked at him, questioning blue eyes set on his face.

He smiled as he ruffled her hair. "It isn't that much stuff, I'll be done in a little, dudette." Nino reassured her, stepping out of the car, before heading to the building.

Marinette sighed as she pulled her legs up to hug her knees, her chin resting on them. She couldn't help but feel relieved that Nino hadn't wanted her to come and help.

The thought of going back into the apartment just freaked her out, the fact that so many unbearable things happened in there and that Nathanael could be home was making her heart speed up.

She felt helpless and useless as she sat there, though, the work could be done so much faster if she helped him, besides, she felt guilty that he had to do it all alone.

Her hand went to the cars door but as she touched the handle, she hesitated.

It were only two floors and there was an elevator in the building, Nino probably would be fine getting the boxes all alone.

But on the other hand, it were quite a few boxes, maybe she should-

No, Nino told her to stay put, and if that was all he was asking of her, she would do just that.

Her hand went back to wrap around her legs as her other came loose and started to fiddle with the radio, maybe some music would help her take her mind off of it.

MLB

The moment Nino opened the apartment door, the alcoholic scent hit him like a brick in the face.

He scrunched his face up in disgust at the strong smell and he looked around, his eyes almost directly landed onto the redhead that was sleeping on the couch.

He pinched his nose as he tried imagining how Marinette could've put up with this for so freaking long.

He tried to ignore Nathanael as he started moving some boxes, putting some on eachother

so he could take more in one go.

He brought about three boxes of stuff everytime he went down, and even though he hadn't wanted Marinette to worry or help, she did anyway, waiting for him next to the elevator so she could load the car.

The routine went on for a little while and on Nino's last time going up, he almost jumped out of his skin, Nathanael stood in the open kitchen, glass of water in hand, looking groggy.

Nino tried not to notice him, as he grabbed the last boxes.

"How is she?"

The voice startled him, just as he was about to take off.

"None of your business." He replied, not caring about the slight anger and worry Nathanael displayed.

He heard him growl a little. "It is my business, actually." The redhead retorted, hands balled into fists.

"Was." Nino said, turning to look at him, pure hatred, something Nino barely ever showed, shone in his dark eyes. "It was your business, until you decided to fuck around with some other woman."

"I neve-"

"Cut the crap, Nathan." Nino said, his hand tightened on box he held, his knuckles turning white. "Do you know how much she's hurting? Because of you?"

"But she-"

"No! She did nothing wrong! She loved you, and supported you, and she never did anything to provoke your behaviour!"

Nathanael opened his mouth to reply, only to be cut of by Nino saying: "Don't you dare even coming close to her." He shut door door behind him as he left the apartment.

MLB

"Are those the last ones?" Marinette asked as Nino stepped out of the elevator, nodding.

"Yeah, they are."

Marinette scrunched up her face, worry lacing her eyebrows and her words, as she put a hand on Nino's shoulder. "Are you okay, you seem tense?"

He released a breath of air he didn't know he had been holding. "Yeah." He said shortly as he was reminded of how Adrien Marinette gesture seemed.

"Are you sure?" She asked yet again, before offering to take the boxes, but Nino stubbornly refused for her to carry them.

"I am, Nettie." He said, smiling a little as to reassure her.

He could see her purse her lips, but she didn't go into it. She sighed. "If you say so."

MLB

They made it to Marinette's new home with slight trouble, they had used the highways, but Paris being Paris, the roads were extremely busy.

"Let's get the car unpacked." Nino said as he opened the trunk of the car, the boxes were strategically placed in it, fitting perfectly like puzzle pieces.

They both grabbed some and started making their way into the building, going up four floors with the elevator.

They had gone up and down a lot less times than when Nino had done it alone, and it took quite a while less.

Nino had left a little later, he had a small gig he had to get to later that afternoon and still needed to get his stuff ready to go.

Marinette had sighed as she closed the door behind her. Her eyes wandered over the white living room, some new and second hand furniture was already placed in the apartment.

She looked at the boxes and her chest tightened slightly, just looking at how much she needed to unpack made her slightly anxious.

Not only that, but also the fact she was completely and utterly alone, made her head reel.

Maybe she could still catch Nino and ask if she could stay a night longer at their home, but as she opened the door, she realized it was a little too late for that, he was probably already driving away.

She closed the door again, her hand left the cold metal of the door handle, falling to her side.

God, was she even ready for this?

She had never lived on her own.

She had never been this independent.

Unconsciously her hand went to her stomach, and she flinched.

Could she even provide for this child?

Sure, her job at the boutique payed well enough, she could afford everything she needed, but would she still have enough for a crib, and children clothes, and toys?

What if she became an awful mom?

Marinette placed a hand over her eyes, she took deep breaths, trying to push down that feeling of panic.

She shouldn't worry, the child wouldn't be here for another seven or eight months, but still a slight headache settled in her head.

"No. No." She told herself, taking another deep breath. "You can do this. You're going to be an amazing mom."

A determined look made its way onto her face as she squared her shoulders. Her mind was still running high, but she pretended it was all okay.

She inhaled yet again and made her way to the boxes, she grabbed the first on that was labelled with 'kitchen'.

She made her way to the open kitchen and started organizing the things in the box.

For a moment she believed everything would really be all right.

MLB

Sooo, I've decided to do a lil' time skip in the next chapter, I was originally going to skip a little further, but maybe I'll think of something that can be inbetween my idea and this chapter.

Question;

\- Do you think that Nathan, even after all he's done, deserves to know about Mari's where abouts? Or deserve some kind of chance?


	13. Chapter 12

TWO CHAPTER IN ONE DAY!! HOORAY!!

Sooooo... Someone mentoined that they wondered if Nate would try talking to her... I think he might do that.

That same guest also mentoined something about Gabriel being Hawkmoth, and I'm not sure about it in this fic tho, I just still can't wrap my head around Gabe being hawky, even if all clues point it out and it is revealed in S2.. But well go with someone else being Hawky in this fic, because I think Adrien's manners would be a little different than..

Anyways... 1.600 words in maybe one hour and a half.

Enjoy and please review! The long *ss reviews really make my day -.

MLB

((Contains **_HARASSMENT_** and slight **_VIOLANCE_**!))

Settling in into the apartment was a little harder than she anticipated.

Sure, she had been doing all of the stuff alone the last couple of months when Nathanael was losing himself, but this was still different.

She couldn't exactly place how, but it just was.

Even a week later, when going to work she had been struggling to find the metro station.

That Tuesday, Marinette had _finally_ remembered the right way to get to the metro, without getting lost and ending up at work half a hour late.

She stepped out at the station closest to her work, taking her usual route.

But just as she walked past an alleyway, a hand wrapped itself around her wrist, her first instinct was to run, but the cold hand held her firmly, pulling her into the alley.

"Let me-!"

A hand was pressed against her mouth and she finally saw who had stopped and pulled her to the side.

Dead ocean eyes stared into her blue ones and a lump formed in her throat.

"Please, Mari, can we talk?" Her ex-husband pleaded as he removed his hand from her mouth, yet his other hand stayed tightly around her arm.

Marinette was tense as she shook her head no, taking a step away from him, but he also took a step towards her.

Her heart sped up, and all she wanted to do was to run and go to work, to the safety of the boutique, to laugh with Natasha and Jamie while they worked on some sort of design.

"Please, I never did anything to deserve this kind of treatment!" He told her, and she flinched, his grip became a little firmer, undoubtedly cutting off the blood circulation to her hand.

Her jaw clenched as he spoke the words, fear and anger were bubbling in her stomach. "Go to hell, Nathanael." She said, slightly trembling.

She could see the fire and her eyes, and she almost regretted saying it, afraid of her own safety and even that of her child.

"You're the one that should go to hell." He growled.

"Me?!" She cried. "You're the one fucking around with other woman! You're the one that has been gambling and drinking and doing god knows what!"

Her hand grabbed a hold on his hand, as she felt her own hand cramping up and starting to tingle. She grimaced at the feeling of it.

"I never did such thing!" He fired back, scowling.

She shrunk into herself a little as pain started going slightly up her arm. "Ow! You're hurting me, let me go, Nathanael!" Tears were rapidly forming in her eyes.

But he never let her go.

"And you've had to be having sex with Adrien or someone, because we haven't fucked in three months." He spat, his eyes were sharp, cutting into her heart.

Yet again she wondered how she could've loved this man for so many years, but those eyes weren't the same, lively eyes she had seen when she walked down the aisle, or when she agreed upon being his girlfriend.

"Than maybe you shouldn't come home horny and drunk all the time!" She shot at him, still trying to get her hand free, she wanted, she _needed_ to run. "Maybe than you'd know how much you've hurt me!"

"I'd never hurt you, you're making up things, sweetheart." He said, his hand forcefully grabbed her face. "Just give me another chance."

She body shook slightly, as he had her pressed up against the wall of the building. Her stomach churned and her heart raced.

No. No. _No._

"I-... I'll scream." She threatened, as he almost forced himself ontop of her.

And just when she opened her mouth to scream and yell and do whatever it took to get him off, he kissed her on her mouth.

She tasted the alcohol on his lips, just before her not trapped hand came in contact with his cheek.

He stumbled back, finally releasing her, her first instinct was to gasp, putting a hand over her mouth in shack of what she had just done, just before her mind yelled at her to _run._

So she broke out in a sprint, not looking back, she didn't even want to know if he was following her.

Her mind was reeling as she ran around, trying to not run into anyone walking down the pavement.

She took another route to work than she was used to, and as she completely and utterly sure that he was nowhere in sight, she went into a two way alley, leaning up against the wall, before her knees gave out from under her, forcing her to sit down on the cold, jagged ground.

Her left hand held her right hand in pain, there was barely any feeling in it, as she winced when ahe touched her wrist, she was almost hundredth procent sure that it would be bruising within no-time.

But she couldn't care.

The shock hit her yet again, as she pulled her knees up to her chest, tears were running down her flushed cheeks, as she took deep breaths to steady her racing heart.

All the hope that Nathanael could redeem himself had left her heart and head as she sobbed.

How had things gone so extremely _wrong_? She asked herself, over and over again, like a mantra.

She had always been there for him, she had always cared and supported him.

He _knew_ she had loved him.

She pulled her coat closer around herself, just as her phone began to vibrate in her jeans pocket.

She inhaled deeply and grabbed it, careful not to use her right hand, as she saw the caller ID.

"Hey, Natasha... Yeah, I, uhm, got lost again... Yes I'm almost there... Yes... Okay, I'll see you in a few." She stuffed away her phone after checking herself in the black mirror or her screen.

She looked absolutely horrible, lines of where her tears had been marred her cheeks, and there were red spots on her jaw and cheek from where Nathanael had grabbed her.

She'd have to lie her way out of this when she would get to work, she decided, she stood up, still looking out for her hand that was starting to regain the feels, although when she balled and stretched it a little, it hurt a lot.

She double checked the streets before coming out of the alley, and she recognized the place from coming there often for a cafe a little further down the road.

She followed the same path to the boutique, but she couldn't help looking around again and again to make sure Nathanael wasn't there the whole way.

"Marinette!" Jamie, Marinette's other colleague, cried when she stumbled into the building.

"Hey," She forced a smile onto her face as she took off her coat to hang it up.

The blond squinted at Marinette with pursed lips for a moment before asking: "Are you all right? You look under the weather."

"Yeah, I'm fine." She stated in reply, smiling reassuringly at Jamie, who didn't seem completely convinced, but shrugged it off anyways.

MLB

The rest of the day didn't go by as smoothly as planned, the bluenette tried not to cry out in pain when she had to use her hand, which she had to use often, considering she was a seamstress and designer.

Both Natasha, Jamie and her boss, Ms. Grandeliér had asked her if she was all right throughout the day, to which Marinette almost automatically replied to with something reassuring.

She had stayed longer at work than she did most of the times, and had decided upon calling a taxi to get home for the night.

She felt as if she was going paranoid, because even though she knew Nathan didn't have any information as to where her apartment was located, she still felt afraid to suddenly see him there.

The first thing she did when she came into the house was kick of her shoes and putting away her stuff, before loosening her hair and running her fingers through it.

She had been able to keep herself occupied when she had been at work, her focus on designing and sewing.

But now she was home, with nothing to do, and she could already feel her head filling with doubtful thoughts again.

She took her phone before she could let herself think to much and dialed a number she knew like the back of her hand.

"Hey, Mari." She heard Adriens voice from the speaker as she did her best to not sound as emotional as she felt.

"Hey." She replied, she help her phone infront of her as she put it on speaker.

She could her some shuffling from the other line. "Is there something you'd want to talk about?" He asked carefully.

She inhaled. "I was wondering if you could maybe come by?" She asked, her left hand was fingering her earlobe a little nervously.

"I'll have to finish checking these physics test first, but I'll come right after, if that's okay?" He informed her.

"Yeah, yeah, that fine..." her eyes wandered around the room a little. "Have you eaten dinner already?"

She could practically feel Adrien smirking through the phone as he said: "Are you asking me out on a date, my lady?" He teased.

To her surprise Marinette actually found herself laugh a little.

"But no, I haven't had dinner yet." He said, happy he could make her laugh again at his flirting. "I'm assuming you'll make something delicious, then?"

Marinette smiled softly. "Yeah," she replied. "Just let me know when you're heading this way, so I can out the food on the stove."

"As you wish." Adrien replied.

They stayed on the phone for a couple of minutes longer, before Adrien claimed he needed to finish his work.

She had made her way to the kitchen, glad to not be alone and have some distraction for the night.

MLB

Like I said before, please leave reviews, makes my day!

Question;

\- Why is Nate such and assh- JK, JK.. Why is Nathan still trying? Doesn't he know by now that she won't take him back just like that?


	14. chapter 13

3rd Chapter in 3 days, I'm on fire. Also, 45 people are actually following this story? whaaaaat, that's 45 more than expected.

Enjoy and PLEAAASE REVIEW!!

MLB

About a hour later, the two retired superheroes sat on the couch, eating some home made spaghetti Marinette had cooked up.

"So, got any plans for the 14th?" The blond asked her, before shoving another spoon of food into his mouth.

"Depends," Marinette started. "What do you have planned?" Her eyebrow raised as she wore a small smile.

"I don't know, maybe a dinner and an at-home movie?" He suggested, glad she was at least listening to his offer.

"Sounds great." She grinned, and it that moment Adrien thought she looked absolutely stunning.

"You're beautiful." He blurted, and he saw her turning a soft pink in her cheeks, her eyes were bug as she looked at him, slowly blinking.

"I- thank you." She replied, biting her lip a little. She put her empty plate onto the table as she looked at him while he finished his last bit of spaghetti.

She took his plate just before he could put it down and also took her own, putting them in the sink.

When she turned around to join Adrien again, he was already up, phone in hand, before tinkling of a piano started.

He held his hand out to her. "How 'bout a dance?"

She hesitated for a moment, before taking his hand, he smirked as he spun her around and she let out a soft laugh.

She felt her heart rate pick up a lit, not in a way like that morning, but the good, reassuring kind.

They danced around on the piano music, Marinette, even if it wasn't as bad anymore, still did her best to stop the wincing when her right hand screamed at her to stop.

The song ended and both of them expected some other slow, piano song, but instead Adriens phone started blasting some other tune.

 _"You can't stop an avalanche as, as it races down the hill."_

He let go of her and took his phone, trying to put on another song, but he hissed at the phone as Spotify continued saying things like: "You need premium to do this".

Marinette took the phone feom Adrien, turning it off as the 'You can't stop the beat' kept playing.

She placed it on the table again, grabbing Adrien to dance with her, grinning widely.

 _"But I just cannot stand still, 'cause the world keeps spinning 'round and 'round."_

Marinette noticed the slight tension in his shoulders leaving, as they both kept dancing, spinning.

 _" 'Cause you can't stop the beat!"_

Marinette felt a lot freer than she had in a long time, just being able to move around like she used to and do crazy things, only her best friend there with no-one judging them.

She felt her own eyes close as she smiles, her cheeks flushed, her breath had slightly picked up from all the movement... and... and...

 _" 'Cause you can't stop the motion of the ocean, or the sun in the sky."_

Adrien looked at her in fondness. His heart fluttered as he took in his best friend, he had always wanted to be more than that, but he actually felt quite at piece being just that.

But yes, Alya had been right.

He didn't give up, he didn't want to, because even if he tried, he'd end up thinking about her.

He had tried moving on, tried settling for less, but she had this way of making every guy she meets gape at her and love her.

He wanted to be able to hold her through the night, kiss her, tease her, call her his, and only his, he wanted her heart and her love.

And even though he knew this, he didn't want to pursue her.

At least, not now. She had just gotten out of a toxic relationship, she needed to find her footing and the best way to help her find the ground and not fall, was by being her friend and supporting her.

 _"And my heart's keeping time, to the speed of sound."_

She looked up at him, smile big, and in his eyes, she looked so amazingly joyous, she had needed this, he realized.

She needed some freedom and some time to not think.

She had grabbed his hand to dance with him, but as she made some fast motion, he could see her flinching, curling into her herself, before pulling her hand away again.

"Are you okay?" Adrien asked her, brows furrowed in concern, usually it would melt her heart, knowing he cared so much, but as he took her hand to inspect it, softly grazing it, all she could feel was pain.

It screamed as he took her hand, hurting her so much she wanted to almost cry, but she had had worse, she- she could deal with this.

He carefully pulled up her sleeve, his eyes going wide at the sight of her badly bruised wrist.

"What happened?" He asked over the music that was still playing.

She looked away a bit. "I- I fell." She had lied through closed teeth, hissing at the pain.

He squinted his eyes a little. "You don't get these kind of wounds from just falling, Mari..." He said, his eyes shone with kindness and it felt as if a dam almost broke within her.

"I... I ran into Nathanael," She lied slightly. "He wanted to talk, but I had to get to work, and... and he accidentally grabbed my wrist to tight..." Her voice trailed off as Adrien locked his eyes onto hers, and she knew she was caught red-handed.

Her eyes didn't leave his and he seemed so genuinely worried that she couldn't keep it to herself. "He had been drinking."

She saw him tense, but something in her told her to continue, to not back-down now.

"He grabbed me into an alley, and he didn't let me go, he tried twisting the truth about everything, trying to make me feel guilty and-and..." Her breaths became short and she soon found herself crying in Adriens arm.

The musical song was still blaring through the background but they didn't care.

Adrien wrapped himself around her, his hand stroking her hair, he couldn't stop her, she needed to get it out, he knew it.

A couple of songs went by as she weeped and sobbed in his arms, before she started calming down.

She had turned her head up to him, they were so close- she could almost...

Without thinking she had her lips pressed to his.

MLB.

Any fangirling, die hard, Adrienette shippers? Haha. Yes this was extremely fast, but trust me, I got it all mapped out.

Question;

\- What do you think went through Marinette head this chapter? Not just the kissing thing, but everything, first to last word.


	15. chapter 14

This chapter is shorter due to nothing. I just really wanted to write this and get this out there.

YAY IM VEGATARIAN FOR 4 YEARS LEZ ZELEBRATEEEE!!

Enjoy and please _review_!!

MLB

Adrien, not seeing it coming, recoiled in shock, he wanted to give in, but this just wasn't right.

But as he tried pulling away from her, stopping her from doing something like this, she stubbornly tried keeping their lips connected.

When he finally did manage to take a step away from her, and she looked at him, hurt, pain in her eyes.

"I-I thought you wanted this..." She whispered, voice trembling.

He shook his head. "Yes, but not like this, I don't want you to kiss me because you think I want you to do that."

A couple of tears ran down her cheeks. "But what if I want to?" She asked quietly.

He shook his head yet again. "I'm stopping you from doing something you'll regret."

"I don't see why I would regret this..."

Any other night he would've thought she had been drinking something, but he knew she hadn't, she was pregnant and he never even smelled her breath have an alcoholic scent to it.

It made him sick to the bone.

"Marinette, think this through, please?" He tried reasoning with her, but she didn't seem to be thinking it through as much as he did.

Her hand went up to his face, cupping his cheeks and trailing his jaw. "What's there to think about?" She laughed bitterly. "Life's too short to think about things like that."

His hand came up to rest on hers, it was warm, just like she used to be. "Be reasonable, Bug."

The second the nickname felt from his lips, she jerked away slightly, as if she was electrocuted by the words.

"I am being reasonable!" He could see the tears glimmering in her eyes. "God! I just want something solid! I-I need something solid..." She looked at him with pleading eyes, making his resistance fade a little.

"You just need to find your way, Mari, you don't need a relationship right now." She looked away, and he hoped he was getting to her, through that invisible wall she built around herself time and time again.

"Adrien, you don't understand..." She choked on her words, and as he took her hands, he could feel her trembling.

His were sympathetic as he took her over to the couch, sitting her down next to him, still holding her hands, softly making circles with his thumbs on the back of them.

 _"There! Right there!"_ For a moment the two had forgotten about the music, but as it blasted into the room, Adrien scrambled to turn it off.

He could hear Marinette chuckling from behind him.

He turned back to her, and suddenly it was extremely quiet. There were no background noises except maybe some cars on the streets.

He yet again took her hands, continuing what he was doing.

"Than make me understand."

Marinette looked at him with such pleading and afraid eyes, but Adrien refused to let her off the hook so quick, not when she was hurt.

"For the past months, maybe even the year, everything has just been so inconsistent."

Ah... The fear of change was holding her back, it probably had been for so long, Adrien realized that that could be why she was so fearful of letting go of her secrets.

"I-..." She closed her eyes tightly, a lump forming yet again in her throat. How much should she tell Adrien before it was enough? "I feel like it doesn't matter what I do it isn't good enough."

Her chest felt wrapped up, tight. She felt him squeeze her hand slightly, telling her it was okay for her to take her time, to be afraid.

"I thought I could still help Nathan when I realized that he wasn't at work..." She looked down right. "B-but after-" She stopped herself, her hand taken out of his, only to cover her mouth with gasping sobs.

"Marinette," He tried, carefully. "What happened...?"

She gazed up at him and she looked at him, pleading him not to do this, not to make her tell. She shook her head. "I-I can't... don't make me..."

"I'm not making you, Mari." He reassured. "This is all your choice."

She slumped down a little. "I-It hurts, Adrien, it hurts so much." She said.

He drew her into an embrace, pulling her close to him for the second time that evening. He buried is nose into her hair, placing a soft kiss on top of her head.

MLB

A couple of hours passed in which she cried and wailed and he had just held her, telling things would be okay, maybe they didn't seem to be okay, but they would be.

Adrien had left almost three hours ago, telling her to go to sleep, get some rest.

But as she laid there, she kept on tossing and turning, her mind running over everything of that day.

Why the hell had she kissed Adrien?

MLB

Soooo, I think I'm going to try updating at least every 3 or 4 days, so that'll be 2 chapter a week, I'm completely settled on the story line I'm going to use (wasn't 100% sure but now I am).

So yeah!

Question;

\- Do you think Marinette might have told him more _stuff_ if he had pried a little harder than he actually did in this chapter?


	16. Chapter 15

Sorry Girl, I simply cannot kill of Nathan, XD he's still a crucial part to the story, and I have BIG plans.

Enjoy and please review!

MLB

She stared at the wall right in front of her. She had messed up, hadn't she?

She had run head first into the abyss and now she couldn't take it back.

Her arm wrapped around her pillow, her mind to tired, yet awake, to register the pain pulsing through her wrist and hand.

If anything it was relieving the emotional pain.

God, he was right, she'd regret this and she never wanted to force him into something like that.

She felt as if the only reason she kissed him was to use as a rebound, or some substitute.

And the truth? She was. And it killed her.

She may still love him, but this was out of line, even for her.

She buried her face into the blankets, the more she thought about it, the more she felt like she had done the same thing Nathanael had.

Truth be told. She had.

Her stomach turned as she tried shoving it out of her mind.

She did _not_ love Adrien.

She didn't want to. She had shoved him away so many times it even hurt her to do it again, she had been convinced she had moved but, but had she really?

Yes. Yes she had, she couldn't have been in love with Adrien still.

He was a sailed ship.

Her mind kept her awake until her alarm went off, waking her from her half asleep state. Yet again she dragged herself out of bed that day.

She stopped in front of her full body mirror, looking at herself wearing only her panties and a big old pyjamas shirt.

Her hand came to rest on her stomach and she felt a bulge.

She slowly uncover her belly, looking at it.

"God." She repeatedly said to herself a couple of times. Realization still hadn't really hit her, and she still couldn't believe it was true and she was going to be a mum.

She released a breath she didn't know she had been holding, before leaving her bedroom to take a nice, long shower.

Her morning carried on as she forced herself to eat, barely able to get something to go into her stomach.

Like usual she took the train, but it wasn't as usual at all, she realized.

To say she was cautious was an understatement.

She was paranoid.

With every step she took she looked around, even the slightest glimpse of something red made her have a small panic attack, but she carried on, she had a job to get to.

Her hand was subconsciously wrapped around her right wrist, which was still bruised but didn't feel like it would fall off at any second anymore.

The rest of the day went by slowly, she had mainly been trying to sew some designs for clients. She felt as if the moment she'd look at a page in her sketchbook, she would be as blank as the pages themselves.

And even though she was sleep deprived and running high on caffeine, she still decided to do just that.

In her lunch break she had decided on going to the cafe she had gone to time and time again, still paranoid, but she knew the moment she was within the safety of the cafe, she'd be fine.

"Hey, Marinette!" She got greeted from behind the counter, a familiar blond stood behind it, smiling at her kindly.

She smiled back. "Hey, Chlo," She said back. "It's been a while."

"It most certainly has been."

To some of their old classmates, the sight of the two of them together, talking and being nice to each other, just seemed out of the world.

Anyone who had been in a room with them for a couple of minutes would have know they were the worst of enemies, at least, before.

It had been one fortunate afternoon in which Marinette had just been hired at the boutique.

She had planned on going to eat and drink somewhere after her second afternoon to explore the area.

But what she hadn't expected was to see Chloe behind the counter.

Actually _working_.

She had sat down and after a moment of silence, the two fell into conversation.

Chloe had explained to her how she wanted to achieve something for herself, and not by telling them who her father was and holding money in front of their noses.

Right that moment Marinette knew she had changed for the better.

But that had been almost six years ago, yet Marinette kept coming back to see her new, improved classmate and friend.

She took of her coat and scarf and hung them up next to the door. "How is the business?" Marinette asked and walked up to sit next to the counter.

"It has been great, rush hour's just over and it's finally becoming a little quieter around here." Chloe replied. "The normal?"

"Yeah," Marinette nodded her head in confirmation. "And any luck with the gals?" She asked, wiggling her eyebrows suggestively.

The blonde smiled brightly. "I actually have. I'm going on a date this Friday with this super cute girl. Her name's Vanessa." A dreamy sigh escaped Chloe's mouth, making Marinette chuckle.

"But enough about me," She said. "Are you all right? You look absolutely terrible!"

"Thanks, love you too." Marinette answered sarcastically.

Chloe tsk'ed. "I ment to say that you look like you haven't slept in what? Years? What's got you so worked up."

Marinette hesitated, but she saw no real harm in telling Chloe about how her life has been. "Have I told you that me and Nathan gotten divorced..?"

"Mon Dieu." Chloe gasped. Her brows furrowed in pure concern, something Chloe would've never done before in fear of getting rimples.

Marinette sighed. "I still don't understand how it went so wrong..."

"You can't expect for a marriage to always be picture perfect." Chloe piped up.

"What?" The bluenette questioned.

The blond walked around the counter, sitting down next to Marinette.

"You can't expect for your life to be simple and perfect." She said, taking her friends hand in to hers. "Sometimes you grow apart and make mistakes, and that's fine. You didn't have a failed marriage simply because of this."

"You don't even know half of it." Marinette murmured, her gaze was downcast.

Chloe squeezed her hands. "Than tell me."

"It's not that easy-"

"You should know that life's never simple, Marinette." Chloe cut her off. "If you want to heal, you have to tell someone, let it be me, Adrien, Alya, someone else, I don't care, but you won't heal if you keep it all to yourself."

Marinette opened her mouth to protest, only for Chloe to beat her in to it.

"I know you're stubborn and afraid, but things aren't getting better like this. You need someone at your side who knows the full story, not just you and Nathanael."

Chloe saw her tremble a little, and she realized she had cracked through her thick skull, finally.

MLB

I though Chloe deserved some redemption, so here it is. I didn't actually come up with this myself, but one of you replied about Chloe a while back saying that that might be a nice addition. So Thanks!

Question;

\- Why is Marinette so stubborn about her feelings for Adrien? Yet she'a still confused.


	17. Chapter 16

Sorry for the lack of updates this week, it's been hectic! But here's a new chapter, overdue.

Enjoy and please review!

MLB

No day passed in which Marinette was completely alone, let it be going to see a friend, having them come over or just calling them for reassurance.

She had continuously tried getting herself to talk, like Chloe said, but whenever she got the courage, she broke down, retreating herself and her plan.

She hadn't heard from Nathanael for a while, leaving her wondering how he was dealing with this himself.

Would he be at a bar? Or at home? Maybe he was with some other?

She tried forcing herself not to care, which was proving to be harder than she had thought.

After all, she had been together with him for ten years, she had devoted herself to him hopelessly, she had given him her heart and soul, only for him to step on it and crush it.

She paced her bedroom, pulling her skirt right, than her jacket, her sleeves. Was she overdressed? underdresses?

Should she go for something more comfertable? Maybe just normal pants? Or just simple leggings with a one piece dress?

Did she look to pregnant in this skirt?

She looked at herself in the mirror.

Her stomach started showing more and more everytime she looked in the mirror it seemed.

She exhaled.

This was hard.

She knew she and Adrien would just go and get some diner and watch a movie, but she couldn't stress this enough.

Why did she even care so much anyway? It's not like she was trying to impress him in anyway. He was just her friend and she didn't want it, not right now nor with all her not shared secrets.

She didn't want a relationship right now, things were hard as they were, and this was the last thing she needed right now.

She exhaled and with a last glance in the mirror, she left. She checked her phone for the time to see that she'd have to get to the cinema in record time if she was going to make it.

She slipped on her dark red coat and was on her way, the now normal path to the metro station took a couple of minutes walking, but she was almost at the cinema a little later, just after their meeting time.

"Sorry I'm late." She apologized, bowing her head a little, a habit she had picked up from her mom.

Adrien chuckled. "It's okay, princess. I actually told you to come here earlier than needed so you'd be on time."

Ome thing Marinette was happy about was that the whole kissing accident was forgiven and forgotten, and he wasn't mad.

"Ha-ha." She said sarcastically. "I'm not that tardy anymore. I haven't been in years."

"If you say so." He told her.

"I do say so." She shot back.

They watched the movie, their hands would sometimes find each other and intertwine, all while Marinette was trying to remind herself that it was just something friends did. Afterall, she had done it with Alya countless of times.

After the movie they went to a restaurant, Adrien had tried taking her to some very high end place while Marinette fought him in a round of rock-paper-scissors to go to something more simple.

Adrien won, much to her dismay.

As they were seated they fell into a companionable conversation, chit-chatting together like old friends.

The evening flew by in what seemed like minutes, but Marinette eventually ended up being brough home by Adrien ("Can't let a lady like yourself walk home all alone.").

"Thanks, Adrien, I had a great night." She said, smiling up at him.

"It's was my pleasure, princess." He grinned back at her, his eyes wrinkled at the edges.

They're eyes stayed on each other, making both their hearts skip a beat. Her chest tightened as he glanced at her lips, but just before anything could happen between the two of them, she quickly embraced him.

He tensed a little, but her soon melted into her hug, he buried his nose into her hair, placing a lingering kiss atop her head.

They parted too soon for both their liking.

"I should go now, good night, Mari." He quipped.

"Y-yeah, I'll see you later, Adrien." They smiled at each other for a moment before he turned away, leaving.

Her hand reached for him but stopped mid gesture, as she forced herself to lower it and close the door behind her.

MLB

"I really don't know how to do this, Chloe." Marinette said, defeated. Her hand tightened around her mug of coffee the next day.

Said girl sighed as she dried of some glasses. "You just gotta, y'know, just say it." Chloe tried.

Marinette pursed her lips. "Are you all right?"

The blonde shook her head. "No, you know that girl I went on a date with?"

"Vanessa, right?"

Chloe sighed yet again, quite dramatically, too. "Vanessa..."

Marinette chuckled as she watched the blonde woman's face, seeing her grinning in a love sick way.

"I can't wait to see her again."

"Someone's smitten," Marinette teased. "Hint, it isn't me."

Chloe snorted. "Like I haven't seen the way you look at Adri-kins."

Marinette blushed a little and looked away. "It's not like that." Her hand fiddled self-consciously with the tea spoon in her cup.

"Nuh-uh, you can't tell me their isn't something there." She insisted.

"Okay, yes," She told her. She stared at the coffe in her cup, her hand wrapped tightly around them. "There is something there, I think I love him..." She whispered, voice breaking.

MLB

Question;

\- What do you peeps think of this newer, gayer Chlo?


	18. chapter 17

Surprise surprise! A chaoter twice as long as the last, to make up for the lack of updates last week!

Please enjoy and review!!

MLB

To say Marinette was shocked was an understatement.

She was just done with another exhausting and busy day of work when she had gone home, already in the mindset of her weekend, ready to relax.

The thing she hadn't expected that day was the red-head standing next to her apartment's door, sending a panic through her body. Her shoulders tensed and she stiffened up.

"What are you doing here, Nathanael?" She asked, chest tight. She wondered how he had gotten there, she had never told him where her new place was.

He looked at her. "I wanted to talk." He pushed himself off the wall, standing up straight. He was only a couple of centimeters taller than her, but it still felt like he was towering over her.

"And I don't, Adieu Nathan." Her hand went into her pocket to grab her keys, intent on just plain out ignoring him. She took the key she needed and put it in the slot.

"Please Marinette." He begged her, and just as she had slipped through to the front door and almost closed it, he put his foot infront of the door, effectively making her unable to close it.

She felt the anger rising up her chest. "What is there to talk about?" She cried. "What you did is unforgiveable, Nathanael!"

"I know," He agreed. "But I need you to hear me out." He put his hand on the door pushing it open.

She swiftly moved with her back against the wooden door, but he was a little stronger than her. "Why would I want to hear you out!" She said through gritted teeth, planting her feet firmly into the ground.

"Please!" He said, and with another slight push she lost her footing, making him able to step through the door.

She fell to the ground, looking up at him almost fearfully. He was in her house and she couldn't do anything about it. If she were to think back on it she would've known what she could've done, but in that moment of utter and complete panic nothing came up.

He held his hand out to her to help her up, but she was quick to her feet. "Don't touch me." She warned, her hands had gone protectivelly over her chest and stomach area.

His eyes widened as he realized how afraid she was of him. He exhaled and his brows furrowed together. "I don't want to hurt you."

She huffed. "You say that everytime, but still you keep hurting me everytime again."

"I told you I'm sorry." He tried, his eyes were pleading as he looked at her.

"Why are you still trying?" She demanded, trowing her arms up in rage.

He took a step towards her, to which she reponded with a step backwards, away from him. "I still love you, Marinette, I always have."

She looked at him with disbelief. "Than you shouldn't have done what you did." She folded her arms just below her chest and over her the top of her stomach. "I loved you, but than you started treating me like trash!" She cried.

"I'm sorry, and I see the errors of my ways." He tried yet again. He came closer to her, making her back up, her back hitting the small kitchen table, gripping it tightly.

"How should I believe you? How do I know you're true to your words?" She asked him. Her eyes were glazed over from tears and her body was filled with anxiety.

He sighed dejectedly. "Please don't make this harder than it is."

A flare of rage went up her spine. "It wouldn't have been so hard if you hadn't started this mess in the first place!" She pushed herself away from the table, glaring up at him, her hand were balled into fists at her sides.

"You're the one that-"

"Has been messing around with Adrien?" She cut him off. "I can't believe you could think I'd do something like that! I loved you, Nathanael, I loved you so much!" Her finger poked into his chest, her face close to his, and only then she realized he hadn't even been drinking. His breath didn't smell like the sickening alcohol.

"And I love you!" He yelled back. "But before we dated you were so induced by him, do you even know how I felt?!"

Her breath hitched at his words. "No, because you never told me! We could've talked this through! But you never. told. me." She said through gritted teeth.

"How was I supposed to tell you, huh?" He demanded from her.

"Just like you did right now! You could've told me, I wouldn't have cared, I would've been more considerate, but you _can't blame me_!" Tears building up in her eyes, and she also saw them glazing over his.

He looked taken aback, he inhaled sharply and she wondered what went through his head.

"Was it true?" He asked her after a moment of silence.

She furrowed her brows. "Was what?" She tried breathing normally, trying to slightly subdue her anger.

"What you told me, two weeks ago..." His lip quivered a little. "Did I really..?"

Her eyes widened. She hadn't expected him to remember, not after he hadn't remember...

She nodded, biting the inside of her cheek. "Yeah..."

His hand flew over his mouth, and she saw some tears almost escaping his eyes. She looked down, feeling a little uncomfortable.

"I-I'm so sorry, Marinette..." He said, quietly, his voice shaking.

"It's okay." She lied slightly. "You can't turn back time anyway."

He frowned at her. "I'm really sorry, I never ment for any of this to happen..." He softly grazed her hands, holding them in his bigger ones.

She flinched a little, but she quickly came to realize he wasn't going to hurt her, not right now.

"I know..." She said, softly. "I know you weren't yourself, you haven't been in forever."

He looked at the ground, still holding her hands. "I'm sorry I wasn't the husband you wanted to have..."

"You were, before you started lying..." She gazed at their locked hands. "I miss the real you, Nathanael."

"Me too..."

Their eyes met and they stared at each other for a moment, but the moment she saw him glancing at her lips and slight leaning in, she knew this wasn't right.

She pulled back her hands back and he looked at her with a dangerous look in his eyes.

"Why are you really here, Nathanael?" She asked, sternly.

His face morphed into something else, something more vulnerable. "I came to apologize." He replied.

"You apologized, you can leave now." She said, slipping away from him, marching towards the door and opening it. She pointed out.

"Marinette, you don't-"

"No! No more lies and pleas, Nathan!" She cried, she held her head up high. "You've had your chances, but you aren't here for _me_ , are you?" She asked.

"I am!" He retorted.

"If you are, than please leave." She said, warning tone laced through her voice. "If you aren't, than please leave, too."

She knew he wasn't about to give up. "Please Marinette, I miss you, and I miss you being with me."

Her jaw clenched. "If you miss having someone to fuck so much than please go back to that other girl you've been doing it with!" She scoffed. "I wouldn't be surprised if you've already made someone else pregnant too."

He looked taken aback. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"Gods, stop pretending!" She cried. Her chest felt tight and her throat started to ache from all the yelling.

"I'm not!" He denied.

She was done with him. She took her phone from her pocket. She clicked the first contact she could find, clicking on the call button.

"Who are you-"

She held her hand up to silence him as she brought her phone to her ear. There was a moment of silence before she spoke.

"Hey Nino," She said to the boy on the other side of the line, looking at Nathanael sternly.

"Marinette please." He walked over to her, and she took a step away from him swiftly.

She held the phone away from her and said: "You know where the door is, Nathan."

She brought the phone to her ear yet again. Hearing Nino ask her if she was okay and who she was with.

"Well could you come and-" Marinette was cut of by Nathanael, who had made a quick moved and grabbed, just like last time, her right hand, making her drop the phone to the floor.

"Marinette!" He hissed. He yanked her to him.

She trembled in fear, she had stood her ground before that, but now that he was actually making some moves she found herself too afraid.

She hiccuped, too scared. She closed her eyes tightly. She shook her head. "Please..." She whispered.

His grip became less harsh, but it was still there.

"I just want to be with you again, Mari." He pleaded.

She shook her head. "Y-You've had your chance." She refused to look up, she refused to face him, as her head hung low, tears gathering in blue orbs.

"Look, I'm sorry, Marinette." He tried once again.

"You've said that a thousand times already..." She gulped down the lump in her throat.

He sighed. His eyebrows were knitted together in regret. He let go off her.

"I'll see you later." He said, before he left, he slammed the door closed.

She caved in to the floor, feeling to weak to stand, her mind was reeling and she was reminded within seconds that Nino was still on the line.

She rubbed her nose with the back of her hand before she placed the phone to her ear. "Sorry, Nino," She said. "Yeah, I'm- I'm fine..." She lied easily.

Their conversation went on for a couple of minutes, Marinette trying to reassure him that everything was okay and that no, he didn't need to come over.

MLB

Marinette inhaled and exhaled deeply. Her hand went up to the door, knocking on it a couple of times.

The door opened, after almost a minute. "Marinette?"

"I think I'm finally ready to talk, to _really_ talk." She said, voice breaking a tad.

"Come in."

MLB

So... That went down.

Questions;

-How do you think Nathan found her place?

-Who do you think Marinette went to to talk?


	19. chapter 18

Dude, what even is a phonebook? Jk. They actually stopped making them here in the Netherlands, I believe this year's will be the last edition.

MLB

Truth been told, Marinette hadn't thought this through at all.

She has simply left through the door and made sure it was locked properly, not taking any risks.

She pulled her coat closed as she walked through the cold Febrauri weather. She cautiously watched out for any signs of Nathanael, speeding away when she didn't see him, arriving at the metro station in record time.

She got as close as she could to their home with the metro, but the walk to the house still seemed extremely long, and she tried collecting her story together a little before she did anything with it.

She was in front of the familiar house, walking up to the door, knocking on it just hard enough to be heard.

The door opened, revealing a shocked and concerned Nino. "Marinette?" He asked.

She nodded slightly. "I think I'm finally ready to talk, to really talk."

He held the door open for her to enter. "Come in." He urged her.

"Nino, who's at the door?" She heard the voice of his wife ask from within the kitchen.

"She's home already?" Marinette asked, tucking a piece of her behind her ear.

He nodded. "If you don't want her to know I can-"

"No!" Marinette interrupted. "I-... It might be better to tell both of you." She looked down, her hands fiddled with her coats sleeve.

"If you're sure." He replied.

They walked into the living room, after Marinette had hung up her coat.

"Hey, M," Alya said as she saw her best friend. "What brought you here? Did something happen?"

"I-uhm," Marinette stumbled. "Yeah..." She nodded her head a little. "I- can we talk? Right now, before change my mind?"

"All right." Nino said.

They all seated themselves at the dinner table. Marinette found herself fiddling with her hands as the couple in front of her exchanged worried looks.

None of them spoke for a while, even though Alya usually liked to poke at her to get her to talk, the both knew she needed to do this on her own, in her own time.

A couple of minutes passed in a kind of awkward silence, before Marinette looked up at them.

"Nathanael had been coming home drunk, almost every night..." She started, unsure of how to tell them about what happened.

"Sometimes he pounded on the door really hard in the night, because he couldn't get his keys into the slot, or he slept in front of the door." She said, wincing at some of the memories.

Her friends looked at her, assuring her, but in the same time, quite curious as to where she was heading with this.

"He- uhm..." She placed her elbow on the wooden table, her head supported by the palm she had put on her front head, looking down at the table. "He came home drunk after a Christmas party with friends," She gulped, painful memories going through her head. "I sometimes wonder how he can find the apartment as drunk as that." She laughed bitterly, the words stinging on her tongue.

"And he- uhm... He-" She closed up, and both Nino and Alya saw some tears falling down.

They gave each other a look before Nino tried getting her to open up.

"Did he touch you in anyway you didn't want to?" He asked, carefully.

His question was met with silence, but after a short wait, she nodded.

Alya visibly clenched her teeth as her hand balled up a little.

"Did he... Did he hurt you?" Nino tried, and they both saw her tensing up, nodding again, more tears fell onto their table. "Did he force to-?"

She nodded her head yes, she didn't want him to complete the question, so he didn't.

Alya stood up quickly, her face was twisted into a look of anger. "That bastard-"

"Please Alya..." Marinette said weakly.

Her best friend looked at her in disbelief. "Marinette, this isn't okay! He fucking raped you!"

That was it, the word Marinette had been so afraid to use, and the married couple noticed it too, before her hand went over her mouth, a sob wrecked her body, her other hand was placed over her stomach.

Nino gave his wife a look that said 'Why did you say that,' but hers definitely told him that she needed to hear it, to see the truth.

Marinette shook her head a little, not wanting to accept it, because she had still been wedded to him, she had been lying to herself.

Nino sighed and walked around the table to sit next to her, placing an arm around her, drawing her in.

She turned into his embrace, weeping in his shoulder.

It took her a long time to calm down, enough for Alya to grab some tissues and a glass of water for her crying friend.

Marinette finally pulled away from him, her eyes quite red and puffy.

"Are you okay?" Alya asked carefully.

Marinette nodded, before changing her mind and shrugging. "I-I don't know."

"You should get some rest-"

"No!" She interrupted Nino mid-sentence, she had only just started, she wanted, no, she _needed_ to get it all out. "I just... I need to tell you guys." She murmered.

"All right," Nino said. "When you're ready, we are."

Alya nodded at his words, confirming what he said.

She took the glass Alya had placed in front of her taking a slow sip. She pursed her lips a little, contemplating what exactly to tell them next.

"He didn't remember that happened..." She said, exhaling. "So, about three weeks later, I tried confronting him about where he went and the money..." She looked up at him. "But the only argument he used against was that I was 'in love with Adrien'."

She looked down, shaking her head. "He kept bringing that up, while I loved him so much for all those years and it just hurt..." Her finger traced the rim of the glass. "I can't believe he didn't trust me."

Alya's eyes widened, as she looked at Nino, but all his look told her was that he had already known about this.

Marinette, oblivious to Alya, continued. "He... he hit me and I left, I stayed over Natasha's that night, and when I got home I brought the divorce papers with me, he was passed out on the couch with the bottle of-"

Marinette clammed up, her eyes widening in realization. "I was about to drink wine just before Nathan got home."

The married couple looked confused for a moment, before remembering their friend was pregnant.

"Hey, M, it's okay." Alya tried reassuring her from the other side of the table. "The child's fine, it's okay."

Marinette looked at Alya before inhaling. "Yeah, yes, you're right." She looked a little determined for a moment as she started talking again. "He signed them too, and yeah, that happened."

"We had been kind of avoiding each other for about a week, and that day I found out that I was expecting," She took a gulp from her water, staring into it. "When I came home, he was there, sober, for a change, and we talked, and for a moment I really though this might work..."

Alya reached over the table, grabbing one of the bluenette'd hand, prompting her in a silent way to continue.

"Adrien came in, only for a second to give me my phone..." Shaking her head she took her friends hand, gripping it like a lifeline. "He started again, asking if the child was really his... He almost hit me again. I- I left yet again to stay at Natasha's..."

"Does she know?" Nino asked, to which she shook her head.

"She never asked." Marinette smiled weakly. "So another two weeks later, I think, I was looking for my passport when..." She looked at Nino, looking him in the eyes, pleading for him to tell Alya.

"What?" Alya asked, seeing their non-verbal conversation.

"Marinette found out what had happened to the money." Nino started. "He had been gambling and drinking of it," Alya her brows furrowed, but she didn't interrupt him. "And he was cheating on her."

The red-head's eyes seemed ready to plop out of her skull. "Oh, he's going to-"

"Alya I'm not done yet." Marinette said, trembling a little.

She shook her head. "With all the things he has done he can still top himself, that son of a bitch."

Marinette chuckled humorouslessly. "You'd think, huh?" She bit her lip for a moment. "Nathan took me into an alleyway and he tried to kiss me... He- he was drunk, again."

"That night I called Adrien over, because I didn't want to be alone, and I made a stupid mistake because I wasn't thinking right and I just did it because god, what was I thinking!" She rambled.

Thay noticed her clear distress and Alya urged her to tell them, curious as to what happened. .

Her voice was barely a whisper as she spoke. "I kissed Adrien."

Both eyes went wide. A silence loomed over them.

"I'm glad he didn't kiss me back, though." Her voice broke, as she smiled a little. "All was forgiven and forgotten wednessday, though, luckily."

She glanced up at her friend who had still been staring at her intensely.

She continued, nevertheless. "Today, I-uhm..." Marinette suddenly went back to fiddling with her glass once again.

They snapped out of their shock, waiting patiently to tell them.

"He was at my door, after work..." Tears slowly started gathering in her eyes again, the terrified feeling came back and her chest started feeling tight again. She quickly grabbed the glass of water and drank some, forcing herself to calm down.

She shut her eyes tightly, some lobe tears starting to descent down her pale cheeks.

"He tried coming into my apartment, successfully. God I-I felt so..." She swallowed down a lump, or at least she attempted to. "So scared, I just felt- I just don't know him anymore."

"Hey, Marinette, you don't have to tell us." Nino said, noticing her anxious movements and how tense she was.

Her eyes shot up to look at him. She didn't know anymore, she didn't know if she was ready to relive what had went down in her living room that noon.

Chloe's words came to mind.

"We argued for a couple of minutes and he asked me if it was true..." She bit her lip. "I had told him another time about him r-r..." She couldn't bring the word out, it was simple, yet true.

Alya nodded at her, letting her know she understood.

"We talked and he told me he was sorry, but..." She gulped, breathing in deeply. "Yet again he tried to kiss me, and it just scared me..." She looked at them, brows furrowed, heart pounding. "He wasn't drunk, and he still..."

Nino and Alya glanced at each other, both fearing for Marinette.

"That's why I called you," She looked at Nino, eyes wet. "I tried getting him out. He told me he still wanted to be with me, but I told him _casse_ _toi_. He did leave, luckily..."

"Alya, we should talk, for a second." Nino said, standing up. She looked at Marinette apologetically for a moment before following her husband to the kitchen.

The bluenette sat there, looking into her now empty glass, frowning, she could hear them talking, but she couldn't make out what they were talking about.

Five minutes passed anxiously slow, as the couple returned from the kitchen, seemingly come to an agreement.

"Marinette, we don't want you to be alone anymore."

MLB

Sooo... 2k words, double chapter for today, I'm going on vacation the 21th so I hope to update as much as possible before than!

Question;

-Do you think Alya and Nino went about this the right way?


	20. Chapter 19

First of I want to apologize for not having this chapter done sooner, I'm on vacay and I don't know when the next time I'll write will be.

I'm also happy I didn't finish this chapter sooner, as for these things only got to me maybe one and a half hours ago.

Please enjoy and review!!

MLN

Marinette had tried to stop her best friend from doing what she was doing, she was a grown women after all.

But even with all her protesting, they didn't want her to be alone, not with that creep still out there and knowing her address.

Alya had made sure that her co-workers and parents knew what Nathanael was up to, as to protect Marinette. The bluenette had begged for her friend not to tell them, but Alya had anyways, only thinking about her friends safety and giving them only a slight impression of the story.

Marinette got were her friend was coming from, but she should've asked for consent. She didn't have that consent.

It had been a long time since she was this close to her physically, they barely stayed over at each others and if they did they slept at guestrooms, considering the last times they had them, they were still both married.

She kind of wished she could have her privacy back, to just be on her own, but they had forced it upon her. The only times she was truly alone was when there was no one for a while, but that never lasted more than a hour.

Despite all this she did feel safe.

She felt loved.

She felt cared for.

She felt... broken.

It seemed like she couldn't handle things on her own anymore, not in the way she used to.

She couldn't go to work alone, couldn't sleep alone, couldn't even do something as simple as breathing without someone checking on her every awake moment.

She knew her friends tried, but they just wouldn't understand.

Her chest felt heavy and taking breaths was hard. Her throat was dry and her eyes were unfocused. Her hands worked like robots and her feet were just there.

She needed some kind of escape.

And like a lot of people, her first choice would be her friends. But she couldn't do it. For moments she even regretted telling them.

Her second choice would be the bottle. But as her hand reached into the fridge, she only grabbed air, and even if there had been something, Alya, who was working on her laptop at the kitchen table, glancing up at her every so many seconds, wouldn't have let her open it.

Even as she walked down the convenience store's aisles, her friend on a different aisle for a moment, she couldn't grab a bottle.

She wanted it, she needed it.

But she couldn't, because the second her hand even reached for a bottle of dark red wine, her head and heart screamed at her to stop.

It wasn't her life she was toying with, it was her child's, too.

That stupid child.

The only reason Nathanael still had a tie to her, a way to get to be close to her, the reason she felt so trapped and scared and alone.

Sometimes she wondered if she even loved him, because when she looked at him now she didn't understand why her heart had fluttered with every loving touch.

Her third instinct was to run. To leave. Yes, she loved her friends, she loved her family, her city, her work, but in that moment she needed to escape it all.

She didn't know how.

She had hastily packed her stuff, but the door knob stung. The guilt of her selfish desires seeping through her, corrupting her.

Voices in her head nagged her, making her want to scream, to shout, to just get let all the pain out.

Were was she going to go?

In Paris she could be found easily, even though the city was enormous.

She could buy a ticket to a foreign country, have some rest there, but she had never been on a plane, let alone left the country.

But before she could even think of what to do, one of her friends came in yet again to take care if her.

She was seriously starting to doubt if the child would be all right after all her stressing.

Her fourth option was to stay, bottle it up like she always had, to keep quiet.

And even if it hurt she'd do it, it was what she preffered, her way of coping with the situation.

Although she knew she wasn't getting better from it.

So time slowly passed, no signs of Nathanael, no signs of her friends letting her be independent, no signs of the looming depression leaving anytime soon.

February flew by into March, and the hopeless woman started to live with it, bit by bit adjusting to the way she always had someone over, of always sleeping next to a friend, letting it be Alya, Nino or even Chloe.

Marinette walked into the hospital, her mother walking next to her, soothingly rubbing her hand as they went to were they needed to be.

Her eyes were trained on the floor, Sabine sitting beside her in the waiting room.

"Are you all right, cherié?" Her maman asked, placing a hand on her daughters knee.

She swallowed, lifting her head in the slightest to look at her. She shrugged. "I... I...'She shook her head and she felt her eyes growing wet. "I don't want this... Any of this..." She said quietly, her voice small as it broke.

Her mother looked at her sympathatically, a soft, caring smile on her face. "It'll all be all right, just wait and see."

Marinette looked away, her mum was sweet and caring, the spitting image of true perfection, her role model. Sabine was understanding, and loving, but even she coudn't understand.

She exhaled, her hands tightly holding onto each other. "I just- I want to leave." She told her mum, her lower lip trembled.

"Than do so," She said, making her daughter look up to her in disbelief, mouth slightly a gap. "Go and take a break, go see some places."

"You really think I should do it...?" She asked her, uncertain, a lump had long since formed in her throat, emotions clumping up.

"It'll do you good, sweetheart." Sabine encouraged, taking her daughters hands, she carefully untangled them from each other, holding them.

Tears slowly descended down her pale cheeks, her mothers loving and warm eyes glimmering up at her. She nodded. "A-All right." She stammered.

She huddled close to her mom, feeling more safe than she had in a little while.

She was going to leave, she didn't know where to, she didn't know how long, but she was going, nothing holding her back.

She calmed her self, her tears had finally stopped when the nurse came in, smiling sweetly. "Miss Dupain-Cheng?"

Both woman stood up, her mum still holding her hand as they walked into the hospitals room together.

There was some medical stuff laying around, things she had seen in movies and pictures, things people had told her about.

"You can sit down over there." The nurse said, after introducing herself as Dr. Scottan, pointing at the gray medical chair at the centre of the back wall.

So Marinette did, her maman sitting down on a normal, wooden hospital chair next to her, yet again holding her daughters hand.

"Do you know how old your child is?" Dr. Scottan asked, putting on two blue gloves before moving over to them.

 _13 weeks and 4 days._

"About four months." She answered vaguely.

The nurse hummed. "Could you put of your shirt, please?"

Marinette complied, her stomach wasn't a little bit inflated anymore, it was starting to really bloat. A bump had formed where used to be her moderate muscles.

It hurt knowing it was really, it scared her out of her mind, her head would start racing and her heart beat sped up. She was carrying life.

But it also felt so surreal. Like she could wake up any giving moment.

They continued, Dr. Scottan asking question while also working.

She smiled, before pointing at the black and white screen next to her. "This is the child." She said, moving the scan slowly over her belly.

Marinette's eyes grew damp as she looked at the screen, feeling as if her heart stopped. "I'm going to be a mum." She said slowly, the revelation hitting her like brick in the face.

She looked down at her belly, before her eyes wandered to the screen again.

Her world had stopped, tears made their way downwards. A little bit of hope filled her heart.

The nurse clicked some buttons, as a soft thumping sound started filling the room.

"This is the heart." She explained, making the bluenette's throat go tight.

"I'm going to be mum..." She whispered, her voice was barely able to be heard, as her mom squeezed her hand.

It took about half a hour before they were done, as they left for the metro station.

Her heart was beating fast, a giddy feeling tingling in her stomach.

There were no words to explain her emotions and feeling.

MLB

Question:

\- Is she going to take a break?


	21. chapter 20

This chapter will be "introducing" someone we haven't seen yet in this Fic, but is a cannon character and you all love them, I'm fairly sure of that.

Please keep on reviewing and commenting! It really makes my day!

Enjoy!!

MLB

Marinette loves her work.

She can do what she loves all day, be with the people that support her, and she had the most awesome boss ever.

Mrs. Grandeliér was kind and understanding, she paid her workers for their labours and knew exactly when something was wrong with one of them.

And so she knew Marinette was forcing herself to create, while she usually just worked with burning love and compassion, but now it was simply lacking.

That Monday morning she had called Madame Grandeliér, asking her for a week off.

So that's how Marinette found herself sitting on the train to Germany the same day, looking out the window.

She had had no idea about the world out side of France, Paris even. She hadn't really left that far before. This was all so new.

And she decided right that moment; She liked new.

She was ready to start a new, ready to take on her role as a mum, ready to face all the responsibilities as one.

But one thing she wasn't ready for yet, was facing the very father of her child, there very man that had brought her her earlier distress.

She pushed Nathanael as far back into her mind as she could, thinking about more happy things.

She wondered if she was going to get a girl or a boy, what they would look like, who they would grow up to be. She played around with some baby names, as she smiled at some of them.

But there was one that particularly stood out, and if she could, she would use that name, she would call her child that.

She sighed a little happily, content bliss tingling all throughout her body. A smile tugged at the ends of her lips, curving them up.

Her eyes glided over the mountainous and hilly area in front of her, as she gazed out the window. Paris was a lot more flat than all the towns she passed by on her way through the unknown.

Yet another, content sigh escaped her lips, she pulled her fuzzy jacket around her a little tighter, seeking a little of it warmth, even though the train itself provided plenty of it.

She sagged down a little in the chair, glancing around her. She noted that there weren't a lot of people in the train, most of them stepping out in different stations, only some of them stayed until the end.

She chuckled to herself. Life was like a train. Everyone had different destinations, different goals and reasons.

She saw a young girl, roughly around the fourteen to fifteen years old, sitting with her knees folded on her chair, earplugs in her ears, probably blasting some of her favourite music, as she scribbled away in her sketchbook.

The sight reminded Marinette of herself when she was younger, constantly working and trying. Always inspired by that around her.

The girl noticed the adult staring, as she looked up, smiled shyly, before going back to what she was doing.

Marinette tore her gaze away a little reluctantly, not wanting to make the blonde uncomfortable with her stare.

The blue-eyed adult's eyes scanned over some other, older passengers, but none of them really stuck out like the girl.

A couple of minutes later the train came to a stop, Marinette stayed, knowing it wasn't her end point yet. So after ten minutes the train started to move again, away from the city they had stopped.

She dully noted the girl had left the at that stop.

She reached for her phone that was stuffed in the front of her backpack, but as she held it, she came to realize she had turned off all her notifications, just to be able to get away from everything.

She checked the time. 13:48. Usually she'd be on a break right now. The thought made her stomach growl a little, making her remember she wasn't only eating to keep herself alive, but also the child.

She reached into her backpack, taking out her home-made sandwiches, unwrapping them, before bringing them to her lips.

The aroma of cucumber and tomato hit her, making her take a bite quicker. The taste danced over her tongue and made her hum in delight, as she closed her eyes.

She finished her (delicious) sandwich, when a brown-haired guy made his way over to her.

"Tu parle Français?" He asked, making her smile as she reponded.

"Oui." Her hand went up to place a lock of stray hair behind her ear, for a second she was reminded that she needed a hair cut again soon, but she shoved the thought away.

"I'm taking you are headed to Köhlen?" He guessed, before he held put his hand. "Je suis Matthias." He introduced himself.

"Marinette." She said, shaking his hand. When she let go she took her bag off of the chair next to her, patting the spot telling him to sit down.

"So, why are you heading to Köhlen?" The boy asked, gazing at her with soft, brown eyes.

"For my break, my friend mentioned the city was worth checking out." She replied, her hands fiddled a little with her sleeve. "You?"

"Family visit." He told her shortly, he grinned a little, and she shortly thought about her blond kitty.

They talked until they finally arrived, chatting away in French. They both stepped out, and the first thing Marinette's eyes fell on way the huge Cathedral opposite to her.

She turned to Matthias as she spoke. "It's been nice talking to you." She bowed her head a little in gratefulness, a habit she had picked up from her maman.

"You too." He confessed. "I-uhm," He said after that, little nervously. He took pen and paper out if his pocket, quickly writing down his phone number and handing it to her. "If you're ever interested in meeting up when you're back in Paris..." He trailed off, rubbing his arm a little shyly.

She looked at it, her lips tugged up in a smile. "Merci Beaucoup, Matthias." She replied.

"I hope to see you again sometime, Marinette!" He said, before he turned on his heel, walking off to the other side.

She looked after him for a while, before turning again to look at the Cathedral. Marinette left the station to walk to it. Noticing the monument was undergoing some slight renovations in the top.

She stopped walking when she was in front it. A huge field of stones laid in front of her, some huge drawings drawn on the pavement.

She went into the Cathedral, a lot of detailed stone work was made on it, making her mouth drop in the slightest. It looked really old, which it was. There was a big difference compared to Paris, there were no military at the door checking your bag, no payment, you could just walk in and pray, look around, do whatever you'd like to do.

Her mouth was dropped to the floor pretty much the whole time as she walked through it, admiring the beauty of the Cathedrals. She had walked through it thrice, afraid of missing a single detail.

Lots of inspiration struck.

After that she went to sit at the river, The Rijn. She grabbed her sketchbooks and started doodling away. Sketch after sketch poured on the paper, before she started running a little dry.

She looked around her, at her right laid a big bridge across The Rijn, all kinds of colours were splattered over it, making the bluenette curious.

So she gathered her stuff and went on the move. It took some searching to find the beginning of the long bridge, but when she side she looked at it excitedly.

The first thing she noticed was that the colours she were locks, all the way to the other side were locks in all shapes and sizes.

She walked over the bridge slowly, the walk send her a feeling of nostalgia, as she had walked over Les Ponts Des Arts countless of times since she was young.

Marinette toured around the city for a little while, having dinner at a small, not too expensive restaurant, before trying to find a hotel, eventually settling for an Ibis hotel.

The next day came all too soon, as she was woken up by the sudden urge to vomit, so without even thinking she had made her way to the bathroom, just in time to let the contents of her stomach spill into the porcelain toilet.

After that the taste stayed, but she had brushed her teeth and packed, taking a small breakfast downstairs in the hotel's lobby.

So she walked around yet again, wandering the city. It took her quite a while to find the train station again.

Four days passed, it was a Thursday Marinette finally started her journey home, mind cleared for the most part and an optimistic vibe shining through.

It felt nice to have a break.

She never really took breaks of work like this, never really let herself rest. All her mind could seem to focus on was designing and making clothes. So it was no surprise how she had been called a workaholic multiple times over the course of the years.

The train stopped at it's final destination for that night, Nancy. A beautiful city, a lovely Cathedral, a lit of buildings and height differences.

So within twenty-four hours Marinette was back in her block of flats, fumbling with the keys, as she slid them in the slot.

She opened the door, only to be met of the sight of someone she hadn't expected to see this soon, maybe not ever.

"Marinette! You're still as beautiful as the last time I saw you!"

MLB

Adrien was woken up at the sound of a knock at the door. He grogily sat up, rubbing his eyes as he came to realize he had fallen asleep on his desk while grading some assignments.

His eyes wandered to the clock. 22:56.

The knocking started up again, this time a little more urgently, making him curious as to who would come by at this time of night.

He stood up, pushing his chair back, before making his way to the door. He opened it just before the person could knock again.

Adrien tensed up in shock, his brows furrowed. "What are you doing here?"

"Can we talk?"

MLB

It felt great to use my own knowledge to describe places. I've actually been in Köhlen and Germany plenty of times. I've also slept in multiple Ibis' hotels throughout the years. I also hope I really made you all curious as to who is in Mari's apartment and who was knocking on Adrien's door.

\- Any ideas who might be with Mari? I'd like to hear your ideas and theories!


	22. chapter 21

A red blur darted to her, hugging Marinette's cheek tightly. "Marinette!" The high-pitched voice said in delight. "You're still as beautiful as the last time I saw you!"

The bluenette's hand went up, feeling the small Kwami holding onto her cheek, sending a wave of happiness throughout her body.

Tikki's little body felt warm against her cold March cheek, tears started to form in her eyes, as she shut them tightly.

"I've missed you so much, Tikki!" Marinette cried, unable to keep all her glee from seeping through her words. She didn't want to anyway.

After a small moment of reunion, the Kwami flew from her cheek, eyes still a little sleepy. "How long have I been sleeping for?" Tikki asked.

Marinette flinched, thinking back at how both Tikki and Plagg had gone dormant twice, first time without a warning, or a goodbye, the second time she and Adrien had known they wouldn't see their kwami's anytime soon.

The first time was after their accidental reveal, both were stuck in a room at Le Grand Paris when both transformations fell away.

They had their backs pressed against one another's, promising not to look at their partners. So, heart hammering in her chest, nervous feeling creeping up her stomach, knowing they would be in the same room, detransformed, for what she had though to be the second time.

But one thing they had overlooked.

She had staggered a little, knees going weak as she stared at the reflection of her classmate and best friend in the mirroring window opposite to her. She drew out a gasp, eyes wide as she quietly muttered the words that made him clam up. "Adrien..?"

"I- how- who are you talking about?" He tried, playing it cool and acting as if he wasn't Adrien.

There was a bright green flash right next to Adrien, making him squint his eyes before looking over at it.

Only to accidentally see her face in return.

"Marinette." He said, stating it as if it ment the world to him. The way he said her name with so much importance made her heart miss a beat.

Within a matter of second another flashed filled their sight, making them both look away. Instead of green this flash was a slight pink-ish colour.

It took them only one second to realize their kwami's were gone.

In a silent confirmation they tried breaking open the door of the room they were in, which proved to be easier than they had both initially thought. Within half an hour they were seated on their knees in Master Fu's massage shop, the old man explaining what had happened the moment they were revealed.

Apparently after the kwami's stopped needing to use so much magic to conceal their identities to one another, which used up a lot of their powers, they'd go dormant, regenerating their powers to full potential.

Plagg had come back first, only a week after the reveal, and had lazily explained he hadn't cared as much about keeping his kitten a secret to his partner. Then he had asked her if she had any cheese with her.

Tikki, on the other hand, had taken almost three full weeks to come back, and when she did, she had apologized profusely.

All while an akuma was on the lose.

The second time the Ladybug and Black Cat miraculous' had gone dormant was after Hawkmoth's defeat. Suddenly there was no reason for Tikki and Plagg to use their powers, Lucky Charm and Cataclysm, so they had gone to rest, stating they would be back when all their powers were restored.

Marinette hadn't expected to see her kwami anytime soon, if at all.

Marinette bit her lip, contemplating telling her dear friend. "About four years." She said a little remorseful.

"Oh my! I'm so sorry, Marinette!" The Kwami apologized, before darting to her charge's cheek again, holding it tightly.

The bluenette chuckled softly. "It's okay." Tikki looked up at her, still not reassured the bluenette was fine, but she let it fall. "How about catching up while backing some chocolate chips?"

MLB

To say Adrien was shocked was an understatement, the feeling he felt when he opened the door was indescribable. Before him stood the red-headed artist, his hair a mess and tired eyes.

"What are you doing here?" He asked, his hand tightening around the doorhandle, keeping his emotions towards the artist at bay. A glare formed onto his face, his grip became even harder as he tried to keep his cool.

"Can we talk?" He answered with a question, running a hand through his hair and wiping at his eyes a little.

Adrien was hesistant, not sure what to do, this was the guy that had hurt Marinette a couple of forthnights ago, who had been hurting her for a while, appertently, but at the same time, Nathanael looked so defeated and weak. He sighed, he may not like the man in the slightest, but maybe he held some information as to why Alya and Nino seemed so keen into making sure Marinette was never alone, besides all the harassment. "Take a seat." He hissed a little and motioned to the black couch, closing the door behind the other guy, with force.

Both of them sat down, a lot of space inbetween the two, as Nathanael was lost, Adrien's burning and questioning gaze on the red-head.

"I... There's... There's something I need you to be honest about to me, please." Nathanael pleaded, and from his seat on the other edge of the couch Adrien saw his hands tremble as they clenched and unclenched. He nodded, prompting him to continue. "Did you sleep with Marinette?"

The blonds eyes widened comically, his face growing hot as he stared at Nathanael in disbelief. "W-what?" His brows furrowed, as he tried to understand why Nathan needed to ask this so badly. "I- No!" He cried, clearly offended as anger rose up his body. "I don't understand where this is coming from." He said through gritted teeth, forcing hinself to take steady breaths.

"Truly?" Nathanael asked, his brow raised. "She still looks at you the way she did before we were together..." He informed, as he crossed his arms, huffing a little.

Adrien pressed his lips together. "I don't think I understand." He said truthfully. "Marinette always rejected my advances." Adrien looked away, his gut clenching. He felt mad at how easy Nathanael seemed to write off Marinette as a cheater, as if he hadn't known her for two decades!

Nathan shook his head, a little confused himself. "She- She did..?" He shook his head again, this time sure he was lying. "No! She wouldn't."

The former teenage model chuckled humorouslessly. "Believe it or not," He huffed. "I even asked her the day she married you, her answer was no, obviously." He snapped at the red-head.

"She really-..?" He asked, lump forming in his throat and slight guilt punching him in his face.

Adrien nodded. "She loved you, Nate." He smiled ruefully, his gaze downcast as he thought back on all the times she shut him down, and how he kept trying, kept getting hurt until the facts were truly clear. She loved him.

The artist opened and shut his mouth a couple of times. He felt... bad. The way Adrien had said it with so much sincerity and disbelief and anger that she had loved him just made him dizzy, as he came to realize that he hadn't trusted his ex-wife for literally nothing, out of fear, out of self-conciousness. It was his fault he lost her and god that just made him want to go out and drown his problems in alcohol all the more.

He abruptly stood up, making Adrien flinch away on instincts, before turning away from the blond. "If something does happen between you to, please-... please know you'll have my consent..." He muttered, and before Adrien even took in what he had said Nathanael was gone.

MLB

Marinette had put in her earrings, her Miraculous, before they had started backing cookies. They had put them into the oven, when Marinette decided that she should go through all the texts she had missed since Monday.

She flinched as she saw how worried Alya had been, even though Marionette had left a note telling her and anyone else she was on a break. Adrien hadn't sent anything besides a 'good luck' and 'travel safely'. Some other people had texted her too, but only Nino and Natasha's texts came close to letting her do her things as much as Adrien's did.

She had also noticed that after she had taken out the stuff to bake cookies with Tikki, her kwami, that her whole house was tidied.

Marinette had informed the small god about as much as she could, starting with Hawkmoth's defeat working to why she had decided to take a vacation.

Both of them had munched away on the chocolate chip cookies, happy to be in one another's presence.

It was about thirty-past-six that Marinette had asked her little friend for a run, and Tikki had made her promise that she was going to be careful and take care of herself while in the suit.

She had only ran around Paris for not even an hour, but the moment she detransformed her phone was blowing up.

She picked up her phone, checking some of the messages, most regarding Ladybug being spotted around Paris again, from Nino and, you guessed it, Alya.

She noted the distinct lack of response from Adrien, slight disappointment washing over her before she pushed the feeling down.

Her phone rang yet again, as she looked at the Caller ID, she saw Alya's smiling face and decided to answer to the call.

"Is Ladybug really back?!"

MLB

Haha, sorry C101 and Clarisa to disappoint you two with who was at her door. But I really likes your theories, especially Clarisa's, you dived in really deeply, and it shocked me how many other possibilities for persons were also there and why and how. Thanks for reviewing and please keep on doing it!!

\- Why is Nathanael so obsessive over trying to prove there was something between Adrien and Marinette? And why did he give his consent in the end?


	23. chapter 22

For everyone that said that Adrien was too welcoming, please read his conversation with Nathan again, I decided to switch up something in their convo to make up for writing Adrien that way. To be honest it's hard to write Sunshine child as anything less than kind.

I also hope that with the change you all know how much Adrien knows, it's mentioned somewhere along that conversation.

Thanks for all the feedback from last chapter, too! You all were too excited to see some Marinette/Tikki action, but rest assured, here's some!

MLB

"What? Alya I don't know what you're talking about?" Marinette feigned curiousity, as she glanced at her kwami with a smirk and a wink. "I haven't been Ladybug since four years ago."

Tikki giggled as she seated herself on her charge's shoulder, listening as she heard Alya freak out on the other side of the line.

"Alya! Alya, calm down!" Marinette laughed. "I was just joking around with you."

She heard Alya sigh and yell something about it not being a joke, as they chattered for a tad moment, before Alya switched the topics.

"Are you okay all alone? I don't want Nate coming up to you again." Alya worried, her concern was was seeping through her words. "I can come if-"

"Alya, it's okay." Marinette cut off, reassuring her best friend, that no, she didn't need a gaurd right now. "I'm not alone anyway, but I'll call you if something's wrong."

Alya made Marinette promise that she'd tell her if anything were to happen, how small or how big. The gesture made Marinette realize why Alya was her best friend.

Marinette sighed as the call ended, avoiding looking at Tikki, as she put her phone into her jean's pocket. She knew this conversation couldn't be avoided, not for long anyways.

"Marinette?" The kwami asked, zipping up to her charges face, big blue eyes wide with curiousity and a tinge of concern.

"Look, Tikki," Marinette started, smiling ruefully as she walked over to the kitchen. Her hands found an automatic path to the kettle, as she filled it up with water, before putting it on the stove. "Things didn't end as easy between me and Nathanael as I told you it was..."

"Oh Marinette." Tikki said sympathatically, she had had more Bugs that didn't get the happy ending they deserved, that were left alone to deal with it all, she was sad to see the tears starting to form in her current charge's eyes.

Marinette wiped at her eyes angrily with the palms of her hands. "Things were getting worse over time, everything just turned out to be this big, uncohesive mess that I call my life," She chuckled humourlessly.

Tikki flew over the help the shaking hand with which Marinette was grabbing a cup with, slightly stopping it's frantics movements. "It's okay, you don't have to tell me."

Marinette tilted her head a little, once again she was grateful Tikki was back after all that time, as she smiled a little and nodded. "I-okay." She took a deep breath, steadying herself as she put down the cup. "But I do want to tell you." She added.

"When you're ready," The kwami finished. "But that's not now." She told her, stubborn to not upset her charge.

Marinette released a breath, soft, thankful smile gracing her lips. "All right."

MLB

Adrien was baffled.

No, baffled wasn't the right word to describe how weirded out he was.

Nathanael had come to his house, looking disheveled and defeated, he hadn't expected Nate to be at least a little civil, but he had let him in anyway, wanting to know what the artist had to say.

He didb't understand what he had ment, Marinette abviously hadn't had any feelings for him, she hadn't since she had started seeing Nathanael. She probably wasn't looking to be with anyone right in this moment, even if she wanted to start dating anyone, she probably didn't see her best friend as an option.

The simple fact that she wouldn't look at him the same way she used to when they were young, made him feel slightly hollow and dull, but he had expected it, he was used to the heartache of disappointment and rejection, especially from the people closest to him.

Adrien sighed as he went to grab himself a glass of water, grabbing an already used glass from the counter and filling it up, before he gulped it down. The cold drink slit down his throat, but not getting rid of the lump in throat.

His consent. What did that even mean? Marinette was a grown woman, she didn't need her ex-husbands approval as to who she could and couldn't date. She didn't need his approval to date him. She didn't need anyone's approval nor consent to do what a normal grown woman would do. The only reason Nathanael had a reason to know was if it concerned his child.

But it didn't.

MLB

Sorry for the extreme delay and the fact this chapter is quite short! please bare with me.

Also, don't worry about lack of Tikki/Marinette moments, Tikki'll be there longer than one or two simple chapters ;).

I also I have no question prepared foe this chapter and I'm quite unsure what for question I could ask, so sorry.

I hope that I can kind of get over the extreme jetleg, writer's block and Steven Universe obsession quick enough to write longer chapters again.


	24. chapter 23

I don't know why but this chaoter just seemed to burn at my mind so I just had to start writing it.

Please enjoy and Review!

MLB

Marinette hadn't slept this peaceful in a year.

All stress finally left her mind and body. She didn't have a lot of things to worry or care about, she was safe and her friends and family to her to her aid at all times.

She had a clean mind and it felt like a new beginning, a turning point she hadn't expected to see anytime soon, if at all.

Her short vacation had done her good.

But most importantly, she had one of her most precious friends by her side again.

Her eyes had fluttered open, as she groaned a little. The light streaming in through her blinders was soft, warm and welcoming. Her eyes wandered around her room for a moment, her eyes falling on random things, a couple of pictures, her desk, her sewing machine.

In the corner of her eye she saw a bit of red, and she came to realize Tikki was still sleeping peacefully in the crook of her neck.

She smiled, everything was as it should be.

She gently lifted the tiny god, who was dreaming away, and placed her onto the pillow, careful not to disturb her slumber. Tiny breaths were coming from the kwami, as her small chest heaved up and down.

She laid her blanket right on her bed, a small habit she had taken over from Nathanael when they moved in together, as she moved over to open the warm yellow curtains that hung in front of the window.

She rolled her shoulders and yawned, as her hands went up to rub her eyes.

She exited the bedroom, walking through the apartment bare foot, only wearing her way to big tee and a pair of shorts. Her hair was done in a simple braid that reached just below her shoulder blades.

Strolling into the kitchen she opened a cabinet, grabbing a cup and a bag of tea, before filling the kettle and putting it on the stove.

Within a couple of minutes she was back in her bedroom, sitting at her desk, cuppa put down, steam still coming off of it. Her sketchbook was laid out in front of her, as her hand lazily went over the paper, jotting down some ideas.

The room was filled with soft snores coming from the tiny god-like being and the sound of traffic in the street sprawled in front of her.

She sniffed in the scent of her hot cinnamon drink and a plant that stood on the edge of the desk, together with a picture of her and Natasha from when they were in college together.

She sighed contentedly as she put down her pencil, closing her eyes as the sun shone onto her face through the window, she wished things could be like this always.

Easy. Relaxed. Carefree.

MLB

Adrien woke up feeling a little groggy, his mind was whirling and he was glad it was a Saturday instead of a week day.

He still couldn't grasp what had happened the night before.

So he went through his normal weekend routine, which consisted of showering and eating breakfast, before seating himself on his couch with a cup of coffee.

He flicked through the channels, settling on watching the re-run of the news- and weathercast of that morning.

He found himself frowning as the news was once again only filled with drama and bad things. Adrien chuckled, remembering how Marinette had always said that she never watched the news or read the papers, not wanting to focus on all the negativity that came from fifteen minutes of talking or reading.

He was about to switch when they started about Ladybug. _His_ Ladybug. They showed pictures and footage of the heroine jumping across rooftops.

He looked at the screen closely. He saw the carefree look on her face, the way her hair flew in the wind behind her, he could hear her laugh even though she wasn't.

That was unmistakably Marinette.

MLB

It wasn't that much later when Marinette's phone rung, still on the charger, even though it was long since full, ringing a melody from her nightstand.

Tikki had woken up a while earlier, retrieved a cookie to munch on from the kitchen and seated herself on top if her charge's head. The kwami flew up, getting the phone before Marinette had even gotten the chance to get it herself.

The kwami buzzed over to her, holding the phone with surprising strength, giving it to the bluenette, who answered almost instantly without chekking the caller ID.

"Hello?" She asked, voice soft and a little sleepy, as she rubbed at her eyes. The kwami had sat down again on her shoulder, listening with her.

 _"Good morning, princess."_ An all too familiar voice greeted from the otherside.

The nickname made her heart miss a beat and spread a tingling contentness throughout her body. "Good morning to you too, Adrien."

She could her him chuckle from the other end of the line, yet to tell her why he called her, although it would be a typical Adrien move to call her 'simply to hear her voice'. _"Is Tikki awake?"_ He asked shyly.

She nodded, before realizing he couldn't see the gesture. "Yeah," She answered him. "Any signs of life from Mr. Grumpy Cat?"

His laugh came through the phone like a tinkling melody. _"Not yet, but you know Plagg, he has always been a sleepyhead."_

She couldn't contain the laughter that bubbled up her chest. "Typical."

He hummed from the other side. _"How was your break? You really seemed to need something alike."_ He told her.

"It's been great. Much needed like you said, too." She smiled, her fingers tracing the edge of her sketchbook, tingling her skin pleasantly.

 _"Good to hear, Bug."_ He told her sincerely.

Heat spread through her cheeks, a little flushed. "Are you doing anything this afternoon?" She questioned. Tikki nuzzled her cheek affectionately.

 _"No, want me to come by?"_ He asked, she could her the hope lacing through his voice, making her giggle together with Tikki.

"That'd be great, Chaton."

They chattered through the phone for a little while, Tikki looked at her chosen with a sly, knowing look, but didn't say anything about it.

Later that afternoon Adrien had come by, wrapping her into a tight embrace, burrying his nose into her now brushed hair, pressing a lingering kiss into her hair.

"Miss me much?" She giggled, blush blossoming over her cheeks, like a soft dust.

She felt him nod. "Very."

She smiled as he let her go, reluctantly. "I missed you too."

His eyes gazed into hers kindly, and an equal smile spread across his handsome, sun-kissed face. "Good to know."

MLB

Hmmm, the phone conversation left me a little unsatisfied, my Fanfic suddenly crashed and the convo was lost, luckily the rest not. Sad to say this isn't the first time I wrote something and it got deleted, I already have been writing about the post-pregnancy, and I was writing some hot stuff and my phone accidentally deleted it, I could literally cry -So I did.

Question;

\- What is Tikki on to? Why did she give Marinette the look she gave?


	25. chapter 24

I'm curious, is anyone intrested to read the original idea as to what happened in this story? It's a lot more angsty, in a way that strays from this, but I just didn't want to ruin this all so I decided to take a nicer route, the story we have now.

Please tell me if you'd like to see the AU to this story, if so, I might post it as a stand-alone fic.

Enjoy!!

MLB

Marinette rolled her eyes.

"You can't go swinging around Paris, Marinette, it's way too dangerous!" Adrien chimed, his eyes full of concern and sincerity.

She chuckled. "I know, I know," She laughed behind her hand a little, amused by his worry. "Tikki already lectured me about it, no need to worry." She absentmindedly stroke her fingers over her kwami's tiny head who giggled and buzzed in delight.

His face softened a little. "Promise me you won't put yourself or the child in danger?" His eyebrows rose, as he took her hands and gripped them carefully.

She nodded. "I wouldn't dream of it." She promised.

The red god looked up at her charge, noting the way she was leaned a little but forward, relaxed, soft rosey colour blooming her pale, freckles-kissed face.

Marinette's leg ever so slightly touched Adrien's, unnoticed, as they sat on the couch, Tikki was seated on her leg, watching the conversation closely.

"Good." Adrien said, before he ran a hand through his hair.

Both of them noticed it, the way Adrien had tensed a little, how he seemed to contemplate telling her something, his eyes scanned her face.

"Adrien, is something the matter?" She tilted her head, curiosity creeping up on her like a fluke.

"Hm?" He said, his eyebrows scrunched together a little thoughtfully, as he shifted uncomfortably. "Well, I saw Nathanael last night." He confessed.

She furrowed her brows, her face growing hard and concerned. "You did?" She asked. He nodded. "Was he... sober?" She said, tilting head curiously.

"Yeah, I believe he was." Adrien told her. "He looked rather... defeated and unsure." He recalled.

"Oh." Marinette said, her face was twisted into something he didn't recognize. Discomfort? Anxiety? ... Hope? "And did you two talk?" She asked, her eyebrows drawn together.

He nodded. "Wasn't anything important." He lied.

She squinted her eyes at him detecting the lie, but she kept her mouth shut. "All right."

His shoulder untensed, he had not wanted to tell her about the conversation, yet he needed her to know Nathanael had approached him.

Marinette sat back against the couch, her hand stroking the kwami laying on her lap, as she smiled. "So, you want to do something?"

"Hmm, depends what something means." He replied, wiggling his eyebrows suggestively, face coming close to hers.

It took her by surprise for a moment, making her watch him gaping for a moment, before she used her hand to push his face away, blushing and giggling a little. "Silly Kitty."

Something was different than it had been, Tikki felt it, she knew it. Thousand of years of experience told her as much. A small smile formed on her face, as she looked at her hot-faced charge.

Adrien laughed softly. "You haven't changed in the slightest."

"You're the one to say that." She replied, gleam in her eyes, grin on her face. Her pulse tended to skip a beat and Tikki heard it in it's full glory on the palm of Marinette's hand.

Excitement pulsed through her tiny body, they weren't going to dance around one another this time, not if she could help it.

MLB

This is short, I know. I'm disappointed in my own ability to create a long enough chapter within a decent amount of time. Sorry.

Question:

-What _will_ Tikks do 'bout it?


	26. chapter 25

"Marinette?" Said Tikki, looking at her charge who was seated at the wooden kitchen table, a cup of coffee placed against her lips as she sipped the hot beverage slowly. She hummed a yes, prompting the tiny god to continue. "Why aren't you and Adrien together?"

Marinette's eyes widened almost comically, ready to buldge out of her head. It took all of her will-power not to spit out or choke on the coffee. "W-what?" She asked, startled.

"Come on!" Tikki chirped. "I see the way you looked at him yesterday, and how you talked to him on the phone." The kwami flew up to her face, eyes wide with expectance, making the bluenette squirm a little in discomfort.

"You did?" She asked, one eyebrow raised, as she bit the inside of her cheek. "I- uhm." Tikki her eyes widened even bigger than before, which seemed practically impossible.

Marinette sighed, setting down her cup. "Look, Tikki," She started. "I don't think I'm ready for a relationship right now. I've just gotten out of a marriage and I still need to figure things out."

The little companion's expression dropped, before it became determined again. "But he could help you figure things out!" She argued.

Marinette smiled ruefully. "I've rejected him for so long Tikki, I just can't," Tears formed in her eyes. "I just don't... It just..."

Tikki sighed, zipping over to hug her charges cheek. "Maybe you could try turning things around between the two of you."

Marinette rested her head on her hand, sighing. Her eyes fixated themselves on the world outside the window. A silence fell upon them as she tried avoiding the subject as much as possible. The sky was grey and three black crows flew by, before they were joined by another seven.

The outside world seemed quite cold from in her cosy apartment, filled with picture's and some potted plants.

Her hand came to rest on the bulge of her stomach, Marinette smiled absentmindedly. Her head displayed countless of possibilities. Most of them simply involved her, with her child, family and closest friends. How she wished for things to be simple.

Her eyes closed. Her heart drumming in her ears at just the simple thought of becoming something more with Adrien. To have a family. Together.

She shook her head. That non-existing reality just seemed to perfect to be true, she didn't want to disappoint him, or make a wrong move. _If_ she was going to pursue him, she wanted it to be worthwhile.

Besides, there were some many secrets kept untold, not because of mistrust, but for fear, shame. She hadn't wanted for him to worry, so she wasn't going to tell him, not now, maybe not ever.

She wasn't worth worrying over, anyways.

She abruptly stood up, the need to do something was rising and forming a clump in her throat. She didn't like sitting still.

So within the next two hours her complete home had been cleaned.

But no satisfaction came from the easy task, it barely felt like she had done anything.

So now that the apartment smelled like lavender again, she took her place on the couch, frowning.

"Are you okay Mari-" Tikki started, but the tiny god, who was concerned about her charge, was cut of by someone knocking on her apartment door.

Tikki looked at Marinette with wide eyes. "It's probably just Alya." She reassured the kwami as she got up, not caring about her appearance.

She opened the door, biting her lip, quite afraid of who might be beyond it, but she felt surprised at seeing an unknown woman, seemingly a couple of years younger than her, standing out in the hallway.

"Uhm- Can I help you with something?" Marinette asked, fiddling with the door knob rather self-self-consciously.

The girl nodded, her hazel eyes searched her face, as if she was recognizing her. "Are you Marinette Dupain-Cheng?" She asked awkwardly, yet with confidence and determination.

"Yes?" She said.

"I came to say sorry." The still unknown girl said, her face was morphed into an apologetic look.

Marinette frowned. "I don't know what you should be sorry for..." She told the blonde.

The blonde seemed in search of words, frowning. Her eyes scanned down Marinette's form, but as they went up to meet her eyes, her gaze got stuck on her round belly.

"I-uhm, are you pregnant..?"

Marinette nodded. The girl seemed to grown horrified for some reason unknown to Marinette.

"I am so so sorry." The girl apologized proffusely, concerning Marinette as she watched the girl freak out.

Marinette awkwardly laid a hand on the younger girl's shoulder. "Could you please calm down and tell me what's wrong?"

The girl met eyes, shaking her head as tears had gathered in her eyes, her body shook as her shoulders untensed.

The words she spoke next really baffled Marinette, making her unable to understand what the blonde was implying.

"I didn't know he was married."

MLB

I'm trying my best to upload as much as I can, while also working on the AU of this, piece by piece I'm getting stuff done.

Question;

\- Any speculations?


	27. chapter 26

"What?" Marinette said, recoilling in shock. Her eyes were wide as saucers as she felt the colour drain from her face.

The girl shrunk away, her eyes stood sad as apologized yet again.

"I- It's okay..." Marinette said, slowly as she steadied herself. "Nathanael should be the one apologizing..."

The girl furrowed her brow. "But still, I shouldn't have gone out with him."

Marinette smiled a little sadly. "Please come in," She said. "Can I offer you a drink?"

The girl walked in, holding herself awkwardly, her steps were reluctant as she nodded her head. "Yes, please."

Marinette closed the door after her. "Sit down," She motioned to the couch. "Is tea okay?"

The blonde nodded, going to the couch to sit down, her shoulders were raised high, tensely, as she looked at her shoes.

The bluenette went to make the tea, getting her kettle from one of the cupboards, she frowned as she poured water into it.

This girl seemed awfully young, especially when compared to her or Nathanael. How the hell had Nathan even met a girl like her, because she didn't seem to be one to hang out with the wrong crowd.

She went to sit one the couch after putting on the stove. The girl backed away from her.

"Could you... Tell me more about what happened?" She asked.

The girl looked up. "I was just clubbing with some friends when we met," She started, she pushed back a lock of hair, moving it behind her ear. "We- uhm, started talking and- yeah..." The blonde muttered, a rosey colour appearing on her high-raised cheeks.

"Oh..." Marinette said, knowing what the girl had meant. Her heart just cracked a little more. She had thought that the woman Nathanael had been with might have been a one or two time thing, that he would've told the woman that he was married at least, she had expected some whore, someone who fulfilled that child like need for sex.

Not a young woman who didn't seem to have an ounce of bad blood in her body.

"How... How old are you?" She asked, quite shyly.

The girl seemed to hesitate. "Eighteen." She answered reluctantly.

"And how long has this been going on?" Marinette carefully. This girl was awfully young, unacceptably young.

"A little over a year..." The girl shrunk away.

Marinette's eyes widened, her hand went over her mouth. It was that she had been seated on the couch, otherwise she was sure she would've fallen down from shock.

It was not that she hadn't expected for things to be going on for a while, Nathanael had been acting off for quite sometime, but the girl was so young, it made her wonder if it was even legal!

Marinette wiped her clammy and sweaty hands on her tights, her chest and breathing felt restrained as she forced herself to keep a cool head.

Of course, it was hard to not be mad at this girl. She had slept with her husband, after all. She had been his secret lover for more than a year, and that just stung.

The fact that this girl, who she had yet to put a name on, was here, in her home, apologizing for something that she had tried putting behind her, it was like salt was being rubbed into the wound.

It hurt her that this woman was so young and beautiful, more so than her. She had these lovely dark eyes, a perfect figure and thick, dirty blonde locks of hair...

She was perfect.

She probably had Nathanael wrapped around her finger, even if she was unintentionally doing it.

God, being not angry at her was something that seemed almost impossible the more she tried not to be.

It was Nathanael's fault.

Not hers.

The kettle started to whistle and Marinette abruptly stood up, walking towards the kitchen stiffly. Her eyes were burning and her hands seemed to shake as she prepared two cups of tea.

"Are you okay?" A voice piped up from beside her on the counter. The tiny kwami sat out of sight, voice low as her blue eyes shone with concern.

Marinette shrugged slightly. How was she feeling? Good? Definitely not. Angry? Yes. Confused? A lot.

The kwami looked as if she wanted to say more, but she didn't, afraid of being caught by the blonde girl not so far away from them.

Marinette took the cups and went back to sit on the couch, putting the cups on the wooden table.

Silence loomed over them, the sound of cars on the street down below seemed to be the only sound present between the two of them.

Marinette felt this dark and numb feeling reign over her head, almost demobilizing her body.

One question was still on her mind, whirling and inkling for her to ask.

"How did you find out?"

The girl looked up, surprised. "Find out what?"

Marinette liked her dry lips. "That Nathan was married, I doubt he'd just tell you..."

"Oh," The blonde said, nodding her head a little in understanding. "I was helping him move a couple of days ago, and I came across a picture book from the two of you." She started.

Marinette frowned. She couldn't recall ever making a picture book with Nathanael. Had he made that one secretly? But why?

"I got curious and started looking through them, I hadn't expected it to be full of pictures of the two of you." She continued. "One was very recent, with pictures that weren't that old, maybe from last summer."

Marinette's heart seemed to stop. Why had Nathanael started making these books, why had he never told her?

"So I asked him about it, and at first he denied it, but it was obvious the two of you were married."

Marinette's mind raced over all the possibilities of the books. Had Nathanael ment to give her these? Had he made them while they had been together? After they divorced? Countless of questions wandered around in her head, but she wouldn't be sure.

"I cut it off with Nathanael and did everything I could to find you to apologize." The girl ended.

Marinette looked up at her, sad smile placed on her face, eyes watery. "Thank you, for telling me."

"No problem." The girl replied, putting down her empty tea cup, before standing up. "I should leave, I didn't want to take up to much of your time."

"It's okay." Marinette had answered.

So the girl left, and still Marinette had no name for the one Nathanael had slept with.

MLB

So, so sorry! This took way longer than participated. I'm doing my best to write as much as possible, but sometimes it really slips my mind or I'm extremely tired or not in the mood.

I'm also busy working on the AU, so be prepared for that in a while.

\- Hmm, what about the picture books?


	28. Update!

I am so so so sorry! I am going to be putting this story on a slight Hiatus. I do not know for how long or if I will even continue this. At the moment I'm very uninspired and I haven't been very active when it comes to ML fanfiction reading and writing.

I'm do want to say that IF this story gets decontinued, I will post how it was supposed to continue and I will give you the chapters that I've already written for later in this book.

I really dreaded having to write and announce this, but I hope I will get my motivation back, because I really wanted to make a complete finished book.

I might, during thia Hiatus also edit aome of the previous chapter, but I'm also quite uncertain about that.

I hope you all will stick around and thanks for reading up to this point! You guys have really gotten me to get this far and to write this freely.

Thank you!

\- Lizzy Vanilla


	29. Update: Half finished chaptersStoryLine

I have decided to not finish this story for now, I don't want to tell this, and I really hope I am able to write more for you guys, but for now this'll be it.

sorry.

MLB

chapter 27

"I don't understand it." Marinette repeated for the so many-th time.

"Maybe he had been making them along the way? To keep the pictures safe?" Chloe suggested, as she cleaned off one of the tables.

It had been a long day, and the café had already been closed, so Chloe was making a cleaning round.

"It doesn't make sense." Marinette said. "Why didn't he tell?" She questioned. She stared down into her warm cup of coffee, frowning. "Who was this girl even? Gods, I didn't even get a name or anything!"

MLB

After this the story'll continue with Mari still questioning stuff, while also keeping up the time skips.

The first half was supposed to end with the birth of her child, a healthy and lovely baby girl called Felicie.

After that she call Nathanael to tell him about his daughter, she wants to take full custody for Felicie her care, and she tells him why she choose the name she gave her.

MLB

Positively Negative -

this comes in the second part and this was actually the beginning of the second half or the sequel. The first chapter is actually completed so please enjoy.

The door opened, revealing the golden man as he walked in, using his foot to close the door carefully. In one hand he held his bag, and in the other a bouquet of red roses.

"Hey, Adrien." Marinette said from the kitchen table, disregarding her sketches to walk up to him, giving him a soft kiss on the lips.

For a while Adrien had sort of moved in with her, spending most of his time at her place. The two of them were content with where they currently stood with their relationship. Slowly easing into a routine.

They hadn't actually planned for things to go this way. It actually all started after Felicie's birth not even two months ago.

Adrien had offered Marinette to help around the house, to make sure she was taking care of herself. She had kindly refused his offer, but he had insisted on it, using his pout and kitty eyes to make her heart melt into a puddle and let her agree.

One particularly sleepless evening, about two week after her child's birth, she accidentally, and very sleep deprivedly, told him about her regrowing feelings for him.

Things started rolling down from there. Kisses were reluctantly getting shared, until the point they were the picture perfect idea of domestic bliss.

She still was kind of scared of letting him get too close to her, even though she knew he'd never hurt her or would lay a finger on her in the same way Nathanael had done.

He held out the bouquet for her, making her shake her head with a small smile.

"You know you don't have to buy me flowers every time the last pare starts to wilt, right?" She asked.

"I know." He confirmed. She gazed up at him, curiosity burning in her gemstone blue eyes. "I've spent more than a decade unable to fully love you. I want to do it right." He confessed.

Over at the kitchentable, next to Marinette's designs, her kwami giggled, watching the couple's antics.

A cry sounded from another room, making Marinette step away from the blond, but Tikki quickly zipped up.

"I'll go and check on her." The good luck kwami said, before leaving the room.

After a couple of minutes she returned to the living room, only to find the two loving adults sitting on the couch.

Marinette had tears rolling down her cheeks as they were pale. A tremble went through her body. Her arms were wrapped around her upper body, as her shirt laid removed on the floor.

Adrien looked unsure wether to touch and comfort her or to distance himself further even more.

MLB

Their lips instantly connected the second Tikki left the room to check on Felicie.

Her body pressed up against his as if they were puzzle pieces, fitting perfectly in to each other. Their heads were both tilded, trying to deepen their loving as much as possible.

His hand slipped under her shirt, softly cradling her waist, sending a shiver up her spine and making her love the pleasurable feeling of the warm tips of his hands on her skin. They slowly made their way up, ticking her sensitive skin on her sides.

He post-phoned the kiss only to carefully pull her shirt over her head, their lips reconnecting as quickly as they could.

Her shirt laid disregarded on the floor, as she licked his lips. One of her legs wrapped around him, as she used the other to push herself up, wrapping herself securely on him.

He pushed her up to the wall, as her hands wrapped around his neck, tousling his blond locks as she her fingers pulled and tangled into his hair.

His hand went onto her back, holding her tightly, their tongues intertwined and fighting with one another.

She groaned a little as his mouth parted from hers, only to draw out a moan when he placed them on the area inbetween her neck and her shoulder. A tingling feeling went through her body, as their hips grind together in sync, buckling towards one another, arousing the adults.

She let out another moan and arched her back as his hands danced around on her back, and his lips sucked on the sensitive skin of her collarbone, leaving a mark in it's place. Her head leaned back against the wall, giving him as much access to her neck as possible and she anticipated his next move as she felt his hands go up, finding the clasp of her bra.

Suddenly she tensed, her heart dropping into her feet. Dread pooled her stomach as she unwrapped her arms from around him, pushing against his chest, her heart rate spiking as she untangled her legs from his lower torso, as if he had electrified her in a non-romantic way.

Her eyes closed as she frantically tried pushing his arms away, the erratic movements interrupting him as he had only been able to unclasp one of the little clasps.

Her eyes were tight shut, unable to see his reaction to her actions.

Her jaw trembled as she shook a little, tears stinging in her eyes. As her mind told her to either freeze, flight or fight.

All she seemed capable of doing freeze, her heart pounded in her ears and moved her arms around her upper body protectively, awaiting an action that never came.

Her eyes only seemed to snap open when she heard a soft, concerned whispering coming from the boy in front of her. "Mari?" He asked carefully, as she took in his fearful and worried gaze.

His hand carefully searched for hers, but she pulled away. His brows furrowed, making guilt wash over her in a split second. A sob forced itself out of her throat as she crumbled down.

"I-I'm so s-sorry..." She whimpered, as she made herself small, pressing herself up against the wall to keep her stable.

He tried shushing her, reluctant to touch her. "It's okay, you have nothing to apologize for." He informed her, hoping to make her see he wasn't mad or upset with her.

She choked on her tears as she sniffled a little.

She should've told him.

She should've told him.

The words ringed in her ears like some sort of mantra, only making her feel worse.

MLB

chapter 2 was going to explore the relationship between Marinette and Nathanael, and how things are going between Mari and Adrien.

Marinette and Nathan aren't actually on the greatest terms at this point in the story, but they are trying.

Marinette lets him see Felicie every once in a while, but with extra force from one of her friends or a parent to make sure things are going alright.

It was also supposed to explore how Adrien and Marinette were dealing with the whole rape situation and how Marinette hasn't told him. she feels like it is too late to tell him and that she should actually be over it already. Adrien just tries giving her space and is reluctant to even touch her out of fear of upsetting her.

MLB

chapter 3

This was supposed to be the chapter in which Mari was going to talk to Alya/ someone else for advice with the Adrien situation and stuff.

In this chapter she actually reluctantly tells him when they are simple laying in bed together, when they are laying so far apart.

She was going to carefully move towards him, and wrap his hand around her as she faces him, close to his face.

She'll carefully start confessing why she reacted the way she did, not using too much detail but just sketching the right picture about what happened.

MLB

that was all I had planned, or at least what I can remember of it.

I might bring you the AU still, considering that one is mostly finished as a one-shot. So that's good.

Feel free to imagine and if you want send me your story and how you think thing would go, and I hope to see you all someday in the future.

\- Lizzy.


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